Lost in time
by dayana82
Summary: This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Late Cretaceous, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food. BeckerJess, well eventually.
1. Chapter 1

**Title: **Lost in time

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read, mild spoilers for season 5

**AN:** I honestly don't know where this idea came from. It just planted itself into my head and I had to write it down. Besides, after all the fluff, I needed some real angsty drama. ;)

It was an eventless day. No creature incursion to speak of, nothing special, nothing out of the ordinary. There was one anomaly alert pretty early in the morning that was handled fast and easily without any mishaps.

And then all hell broke loose.

Jess was about to log out of the ADD handing it over to the nightshift and heading home. Suddenly, the anomaly alert rang through the hub of the ARC. Her fingers quickly flew across her keyboards and she froze. This couldn't be true. It had to be a mistake.

"Jess, where is the…" Becker's voice trailed off when he jogged into the ADD. The anomaly had opened right behind Jess's chair.

Jess slowly turned around, her eyes widening at the sight of the shimmering, yellow rupture in time.

"Hang on, we'll get it," Matt announced, installing the device to close the anomaly.

Becker slowly walked towards the computers, his EMD drawn and ready to shoot whatever came through. "Jess," he said quietly. "I want you to come over to me, carefully."

It happened too fast for anyone to realize what happened, especially for her. Jess carefully stood up, walking slowly towards Becker, her eyes fixed on the anomaly. Suddenly, it seemed to move, and a creature, about her height, blocked her way, screeching and exposing sharp teeth.

Jess shrieked, jumping backwards a little.

"It's a sinosaurus," Connor announced. "Early Jurassic. Be careful, it's a carnivore, and its teeth are pretty sharp."

"Thanks," Becker snarled, aiming his EMD to shoot, causing the dinosaur to stumble. But the surge didn't take the creature out.

It turned around to Becker, and in the movement hit Jess with its tail, causing her to stumble directly into the anomaly.

There was no time for her to duck, before the creature's tail hit her and she fell, landing not on the hard, metal floor of the ADD, but on sand.

She raised her head, and her eyes widened at the sight of a prehistoric era. This was a dream, it had to be.

"Jess!" Becker shouted, trying to grab her. But she was too far away. And the creature launched at him again.

Becker took it out with two more shots. "Matt," he shouted. "Don't close the anomaly, Jess has been pushed through it."

He felt like he was trapped in his worst nightmare. This wasn't supposed to happen. Not here, not to her, not like this. She was supposed to be safe here in the hub of the ARC.

Jess quickly jumped to her feet, only to find herself looking at a second dinosaur looking like the one that had just pushed her through the anomaly. She needed to get back.

Turning around, she found herself only a few meters away from the anomaly. She could run. She could make it.

Taking a deep breath, she started running as fast as she could, heading for the anomaly, her way home.

She got through, the first thing she saw being Becker's face, his eyes widening as she ran back through the anomaly. She saw the ARC, the dinosaur Becker had taken out. She was home.

Then she stumbled as something grabbed her ankle, landing rudely on the cold floor of the ADD. And then something pulled her back through the anomaly.

For a second, Becker couldn't move, overwhelmed by the scene he had to witness. Jess running through the anomaly, back to them, into safety – and then something grabbing her, pulling her back through.

She screamed, trying to grab something to hold on to. But there was nothing other than plane metal. Her nails squeaked on the floor as she tried to grab something.

She tried to kick the dinosaur that grabbed her ankle, but only kicked at nothing. She couldn't see it since it was on the other side of the anomaly.

Becker launched forward, grabbing Jess's wrists in an attempt to keep her from being pulled through the anomaly again.

Feeling two strong hands grabbing each of her wrists, Jess turned back around, meeting Becker's fear-filled eyes. Fear for her.

"Becker," she whispered.

"I'm not letting you go," he replied in a low voice. "I promise."

He tried to pull her back into the ARC, back into their time, but the dinosaur was strong.

Jess screamed again as pain rushed through her body while two parties were pulling at her. The dinosaur was too strong. She needed to get free. So she kept kicking.

She hit the dinosaur and it let go, but only for a second.

"That's it, keep kicking," Becker encouraged her, still refusing to let go. He would hold on to her, even if it meant being pulled through the anomaly as well. He couldn't let go.

Jess did as he told her, kicking mostly at nothing, only sometimes at the dinosaur. Her ankle felt raw, as did her wrists in the meantime. She feared the dinosaur might just bite off her foot, but its jaws didn't seem to be strong enough for that, thankfully.

There was a flickering in the anomaly, causing both Becker and Jess's eyes to widen. Something was wrong.

"Becker, the anomaly gets unstable," Connor shouted.

Becker pulled harder, but he couldn't get Jess back through the anomaly.

"Becker," Connor shouted again, running up next to him. "Becker, you have to let her go."

"No!" he shouted, pulling harder at Jess, causing her to wince in pain. "Help me!"

Nodding, Connor did as he was told, now pulling at one of her arms as well. But they weren't able to fully pull her back through the anomaly.

"Becker, we can't get her back through," Connor rushed to explain, but kept pulling nonetheless. "We have to let go."

"No!" Becker insisted.

Connor lowered his voice as he explained, "If the anomaly closes now, she'll be cut in halves. She won't survive."

Becker turned back to Jess, knowing that if he let go and let the dinosaur pull her through the anomaly, she probably wouldn't survive either.

"It's okay," Jess whispered, tears streaming down her fear-filled face. "It's okay."

There was another flickering.

"The anomaly's closing," Connor shouted.

"I'm sorry," Becker whispered, stroking her wrist with his thumb, before letting go.

Jess slid through the anomaly, her eyes glued to Becker's as she disappeared. "I love you," was the last thing she whispered before she was gone – and so was the anomaly.

Swearing, Becker kicked the chair she'd been sitting on just a minute ago. If he hadn't told her to stand up, this wouldn't have happened. She wasn't supposed to end up on the wrong side of an anomaly. This wasn't supposed to happen to her.

"Connor," he turned back around. "Your prototype for New Dawn wasn't destroyed, right?"

Connor shook his head, not sure where this was going.

"Can you reopen the anomaly?" Becker asked.

"Well, if I modified the prototype I could probably open a specific anomaly," Connor said. "But I'm not sure I can get the exact year. I mean, we're talking about a period of several million years."

"Doesn't the ADD save the exact date to which time an anomaly leads?" Abby asked.

"Of course," Connor exclaimed, sitting down in Jess's chair. "But still there's no guarantee I can make this work."

"You can," Becker encouraged him, something he hardly ever did. "We have to get her back."

Nodding, Connor got to work, retrieving the needed data from the ADD. He could do it. He had to. They would get Jess back. No one was left behind.

All he needed to do was build a larger version of his prototype that could create an anomaly big enough for a man to get through, and recalibrate the device so that it opened an anomaly to the era the dinosaur had taken Jess to. Piece of cake.

Helen's device had been able to do that, meaning that it was possible. He had a vague idea of how the thing worked and he _could_ open an anomaly. The rest was just recalibrating. They would get Jess back in no time at all.

"What are you doing?" Lester's stern voice said behind them.

"Trying to get Jess back," Becker explained through gritted teeth.

"This shouldn't have happened," Lester said, his face showing no emotion. "And it won't happen again. No one's opening any anomalies here."

"But… Sir…" Abby tried to object.

"It's your own rule, captain," Lester insisted. "No one goes through any anomaly."

"We don't leave anyone behind," Matt jumped in.

"With all due respect for Miss Parker's ability as a field coordinator," Lester told them. "She's not trained for fighting dinosaurs, especially not in a prehistoric era without any weapons to speak of. I don't like saying it, but she's most certainly dead by now."

He couldn't leave her behind. He couldn't give up hope that somehow she would survive – at least long enough for him to bring her back home. "But, sir, we have to at least…" Becker started.

Lester interrupted him. "No one opens any anomaly to any prehistoric era. That's an order." That being said, Lester walked back to his office, kicking his chair when he had closed his door.


	2. Survival

**Title: **Survival

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** Part 2/? of the 'Lost in time'-series. This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

Jess jerked at the sound of the Brachiosaurus herd passing the tree she was sleeping on. It felt like years since she'd been trapped here, but she wasn't even sure it was days. Time seemed to run at a different pace here.

At first, she had tried to cut lines into the tree for each day she was trapped here. But she'd given it up eventually. The bark of the tree was too thick, and cutting something into it was too much effort. Besides, she was never sure if it really was just one more day she had spent here. In the end, it didn't matter, anyway.

She had managed to free herself from the Sinosaurus after it had pulled her through the anomaly. When it had pulled her to his era, it had let go of her for a moment to aim for her neck in an attempt to kill its prey. She had kicked it then, no longer aiming blindly.

It had howled and stumbled backwards, and she had used the chance to get away, climbing the next tree she could find, searching shelter there. It wasn't like she didn't know anything about dinosaurs. She'd learned a lot from Abby since they were working and living together.

The Sinosaurus had stayed overnight, circling around the tree, waiting for its prey to come down. But she hadn't had any intention leaving the tree. The bite on her ankle had been only shallow, but it had still hurt pretty much, making it impossible for her to run as fast as she could have run with a healthy ankle if necessary.

She'd stayed on the tree until the hunger had become unbearable. Only then had she dared leaving her shelter in search for some food. The pickings had been miserable, mostly leaves she decided to try because they looked similar to gingko leaves, but it had been enough to keep her alive.

Letting her eyes wander into the distance, Jess wondered if anyone would ever come to her rescue. Becker surely wouldn't. It was his rule that no one was allowed to go through an anomaly – not even to save someone else. He wouldn't ignore the rule. And even if he thought about it, Lester surely wouldn't let him.

They would abandon her. They had to. They certainly assumed she was dead by now. Jess herself would never have guessed that she was capable of surviving in such surroundings.

Was it even possible to locate where exactly she was? Or when, actually? Connor had integrated the device determining the time an anomaly led to into the main computers of the ADD. When an anomaly opened somewhere, the data of the exact place and time it lead to was saved in the ADD. They always used it for the mission reports. So they certainly had the necessary data to reopen the anomaly.

But was it possible to reopen an anomaly leading to an exact period in the past? She knew that Helen Cutter had used a device being capable of that. But the device was long since lost in the Late Cretaceous. Was there a way Connor could do the same?

Sighing, she felt her stomach rumble. She'd learned pretty soon that she could trust the herbivores with detecting the carnivores, at least the bigger ones. When the herd started to get nervous, Jess started to run to climb the next tree available.

The smaller carnivores didn't attack the large herbivores. They were probably basically scavengers. As long as Jess stayed close to the Brachiosaurus herd, she was safe most of the time – if the huge herbivores didn't trample her.

So far she had mostly lived on gingko leaves. There were mostly ferns, palms and conifers growing here, except for a few mammoth trees like the one she was living on now. She wasn't sure their leaves were toxic, but they were too hard for her to eat them anyway.

The ferns she didn't try, knowing that most ferns in the twenty-first century were toxic, she didn't dare taking the risk. The gingko leaves had to be enough.

She'd never thought she would have to try and survive in a prehistoric era. How had Abby and Connor managed to survive this for a whole year? Well, at least they hadn't been alone. The worst part about all this was being alone.

Jess had given up crying by now. It was useless.

The first few days she had cried whenever she'd heard an unfamiliar sound. Now she could determine if the sounds she heard came from herbivores or one of the carnivores, and she could even tell how close the creature making the sound was.

She'd cried over the fact that she was trapped here in the Early Jurassic all by herself, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food. But then she'd decided that she needed to stay alive. And she'd soon found out that the Brachiosauruses could be a pretty pleasant company as well.

Scanning the area for possible predators, Jess got down from her tree to collect as much food as possible. She used her jacket as a bag so that she didn't have to leave the safety of her tree for too long.

She hissed and clenched her teeth when she jumped to the ground. Her ankle still hurt. The bite refused to heal properly. If it was infected, she knew she wouldn't survive here much longer. But she had learned to ignore the pain and fully use her leg nonetheless.

Maybe it had been safer to trek with one of the herds. But she refused to give up hope that someday someone would reopen the anomaly to save her. Hope was the only thing that kept her alive. If she gave up hope, she could as well surrender herself to the next carnivore crossing her way.

Even if it wasn't an anomaly leading back to her time, it was still possible that another anomaly opened. An anomaly leading to another time, a better time than this. A time where there were at least other human beings. Anomalies opened all the time, after all, didn't they?

So she stayed where she was. Close to where she'd been pulled through the anomaly days, or weeks, or who knew how long ago. She collected as much food as possible when a herd of Brachiosauruses or Diplodocuses was close by, and stayed out of sight when there were no herbivores keeping the small predators away.

She didn't dare approaching a herd of Stegosauruses. Even though she knew that they were herbivores, their horns and spikes were too dangerous. If she couldn't duck their tails, she'd be riddled.

The large carnivores usually didn't care about her when there was a larger dinosaur separated from its herd they were aiming for. But sometimes Jess was lucky and the carnivores left some of their prey behind.

In the past she would have found it disgusting to eat raw meat from an animal she had found dead. But now she considered herself lucky to have a little meat in addition to the gingko leaves.

She dried the meat. It was less disgusting, and longer-lasting, especially in the hot and dry climate. Cooking the meat was impossible. Not that she didn't think she could make a fire. But she feared that if she started a fire, it might get out of control before she was able to put it out. The subsoil was very dry. A fire would spread in the blink of an eye – and even if she survived something like that, staying here would be impossible afterwards.

She managed to collect a pretty good amount of gingko leaves at once. This day, she went collecting three times. That would do for a good while, if she was frugal. She only ate enough to survive, never sure when she could eat again. Like a squirrel she stashed her provisions in little knotholes in the tree.

Jess had always loved eating. She had been sure she would never be able to do without three meals a day, especially not without a hot meal. But she was. If the times made it necessary, she was capable of a lot of things. She'd even managed to escape some of the smaller predators at least three times by now. They weren't always avoiding the herds, so she'd run into some of them.

By now she possessed a stick with a broken off end she used to stab them, and a short and pretty heavy branch she could use as a bat if necessary. At first she'd wondered how soldiers were able to carry their weapons around like women carried their purses. But she found herself getting stronger every day – and less frightened.

She was sure she had seen whatever creature was to be seen in this era. She was able to determine by the sound of cracking sticks how tall the dinosaur was that was hiding in the thicket. The smaller ones made littler noise than the big ones.

She wasn't sure what was worst, the fear of ending up as dinosaur snack, loosing the sense of time, the loneliness or the silence. There was no human being to talk to. She hadn't heard a single word in what seemed like ages.

So she sometimes talked to herself, or to the herd, or to the universe. She wasn't sure. Just to avoid forgetting how to speak or forgetting her mother tongue if she didn't use it anymore – and to make her mind believe that it wasn't all that lonely here.

There was nothing to do here apart from trying to survive. She spent her days collecting food and trying to avoid being food. Sometimes she climbed other trees, trying to find a better place to hide, a higher tree or a tree with more knotholes.

But she always went back to _her_ tree. For some reason, she considered this tree better than all the others. The other trees weren't high enough, or too hard to climb, or just too far away from where the anomaly had opened.

She didn't sleep at night anymore, but mostly at day. Most of the carnivores were nocturnal, so at night it was much more dangerous than at day. At day she was usually only snoozing. A deep and peaceful sleep had become impossible.

Every day she sat on her tree watching the sunset, hoping that she would see the golden shimmering of an open anomaly. Every day the night set and there was nothing but darkness around her.

The first days she'd end up crying almost the whole night through, until she had eventually come to the conclusion that crying didn't help her. The anomaly didn't care if she cried her eyes out. Neither did the dinosaurs. She could cry as much as she wanted, it wouldn't make the universe feel sorry for her and open an anomaly leading back to her time.

They weren't going to come for her, either. None of them, not Matt, not Emily, not Abby or Connor. Lester wouldn't let them. Becker wouldn't let them. It had been hard enough for him to lose Sarah while trying to save Connor and Abby. He wouldn't let that happen again. There was no way anyone would ever come here to save her.

For the first time, she didn't cry at the sight of the sunset. She'd settled for never being rescued. She'd settled for staying here for the rest of her life. She hadn't settled for dying, though. Not yet, anyway.

But she still missed her home. She still couldn't get used to the thought of never seeing her apartment again, or the ARC. She would never be able to feel comfortable somewhere again, she would never feel the keys of the ADD beneath her fingertips again while she was coordinating missions.

She wondered how long it would be possible for her to do without a deep sleep and without a proper nutrition. The average age during the middle ages had been about forty years. Here in the Early Jurassic it must be even less. She certainly wouldn't live to celebrate her thirtieth birthday.

Even if she wasn't killed by a dinosaur, even if she didn't starve because she couldn't find enough food anymore, she still wouldn't grow very old. The constant lack of sleep along with the malnutrition wouldn't keep her healthy for long. Not to mention the wound on her ankle.

She couldn't help but wonder what the scientists might say if they found the skeleton of a homo sapiens among the fossils of this era. There hadn't even been the early forms of human beings in this time. She might become a riddle for science.

Thinking about that, Jess realized that she would never hear a human voice again except for her own. That certainly was the worst thing about all this. She was lonely. There was no other human being, there certainly wouldn't be for the rest of her life. She would never see anyone smiling at her again. She would never hear anyone calling her name again.

She would never see _him_ again, never hear his voice again. At least she had told him what she'd never dared to say out loud before. But she couldn't help wondering what his reaction would have been.

Was there even a chance that he shared her feelings? Certainly not. He had never made any attempt to even flirt with her. Okay, he'd brought her chocolate, what had been nice. But he had never actually acted like he was in any way interested in her. He didn't share her feelings.

And even if he did, it didn't matter anymore. Not when they were several million years apart.


	3. Scheme

**Title: **Scheme

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** Part 3/? of the 'Lost in time'-series. This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

"How much longer?" Becker asked impatiently. It had been two weeks since Jess had disappeared. Two weeks she'd spent on her own in the Early Jurassic. Two weeks he had spent checking every anomaly to see which era it led to before locking it.

Lester had told them not to make any attempts to reopen the anomaly inside the ARC through which Jess had disappeared. He had told them not to go through any anomaly in search for her. But for the first time, Becker didn't care what Lester said. He wouldn't leave her behind.

Besides, Lester hadn't said anything about reopening the anomaly somewhere else. If Lester found out, Becker would be fired. So what? If it meant that he brought Jess back, who cared? Or if he at least found an answer to the nagging question what had happened to her.

He hadn't been able to save her the first time. He needed his chance to make this right; even if Lester didn't understand. Even if no one understood, he needed to _try_. He couldn't go on living without trying to amend his failure. He couldn't go on living without _her_.

"Becker," Abby turned to him. "It's been a pretty long time, and…"

"She's still alive," he interrupted her. They'd had this conversation too often already, he didn't want to go down this road again. As long as he hadn't been to the Early Jurassic finding her body or bones or any other proof that she was dead, she wasn't.

He wouldn't pronounce her dead before he had _any_ proof that she was, that there was no way to bring her back to her time, back to him. He wouldn't give up on her. He simply couldn't. He was obsessed with the idea of saving her, it was the only thing standing between him and insanity, the idea that he could save her and didn't have her blood on his hands.

"Lester was right, she isn't trained for this," Connor agreed with Abby.

"Look, if you don't want to help me, fine, just tell me, I'll find another way," Becker grumbled. Even though he wasn't sure what other way there could be if Connor wasn't willing to help him, he knew he wouldn't give up. He couldn't. Even if he had to walk through every anomaly he could find, then this was what he would do for the rest of his life. He would find her.

"We want to get her back as much as you do," Abby assured him. "And we won't rest before we reopened the anomaly. All I'm saying is that we should be willing to except the worst if it turns out that…"

"No," he interrupted, almost shouting at her. "She's not dead. I won't give up on her. I… I can't."

"I know," Abby told him with a slight smile. "And I don't want you to believe that she's dead. I just want you to accept that we might be too late."

"We aren't," Becker insisted. "She's alive. I just know it."

"I hope you're right," Connor said, looking at him. "I really do."

He nodded, and then sighed. "I know what we're doing here is illegal and can cost our jobs. So I understand if you don't want to be a part of this."

"She's our flatmate," Connor stated. "There's no way we'll leave her behind in a prehistoric era."

"Not after we've been through this," Abby added. "As far as we know, she could still be alive. And as long as there's a little bit of hope left…"

"… we're not going to give up," Connor added.

Becker took a deep breath. "So, how much longer?" he repeated.

"I finished rebuilding the device," Connor said. "If it works, the anomaly it creates will be large enough for a human to get through."

"If…" Becker mumbled.

"It will work," Connor assured him. "I'm sure it will. The main problem was recalibrating the device so that it opens an anomaly leading to an exact time."

"And?" Becker pressed him.

Connor sighed. "Well, we collected the necessary data from the ADD and I could use everything we'd found out about Helen's device. I'm sure it'll work."

"Meaning that I'll arrive two weeks after she'd been pulled through the anomaly," Becker said, trying to process the information.

Connor nodded.

"You?" Abby asked with a frown. "I thought we were going together?"

"No, I'm going alone," Becker stated. "There's no need of putting your lives in danger as well. This was my idea – and it was my rule that no one goes through the anomalies. So it's only fair if I'm the one breaking it. Besides, I need you here so that my way back is secured."

"Don't worry, we won't let the anomaly close again before you can get back through," Connor told him with grin.

Becker gave him a small smile. Frankly, he could think of a lot of things much worse than being trapped on the wrong side of an anomaly with Jess by his side. Being forced to live without her leading the way. He shouldn't have let go just like that. He should have gone with her, be there to protect her from the dinosaurs until someone saved them.

Instead, he had abandoned her, left her alone, left her to the dinosaurs. He could have jumped through the anomaly as well. He should have…

"Becker?" Abby's voice interrupted his thoughts.

He turned to look at her.

Giving him another soft smile, she said, "This wasn't your fault."

Of course, this was his fault. He had been the one not being able to pull her back through. He had let go of her. "How do we avoid the ARC detecting the anomaly and showing up here to close it?" Becker wanted to know as he turned to watch Connor work.

"That's going to be the hardest part," Connor said.

"He has to get into the ARC and find a place without CCTV," Abby continued, letting Connor concentrate on his current task. "Connor will set up his laptop, hack into the system and enter a virus that will knock out the anomaly detector for at least two hours."

"They'll never know what hit them," Connor commented. "Hopefully."

"Are you sure they won't be able to fix it in less than two hours?" Becker pressed him.

Connor grinned at him. "Who do you think they'll call when the detector crashes down? The problem is that it will be too obvious if I can't handle the problem in two hours. Then they'll certainly call someone else in."

"And they won't know it was a virus you entered into the system?" Becker asked, frowning at Connor basically in concern. If they found out, it wouldn't end well for any of them. While Becker himself absolutely didn't care as long as he could get Jess back, he didn't want to be responsible for the rest of his team being fired as well.

"Nope," Connor assured him. "Even if they let anyone else fix the computer, which is pretty unlikely because the only two persons who can fix a glitch like this are Jess and me, they won't be able to track the virus back to any of us. So we're safe."

"At least they won't be able to prove it," Abby added.

"Right," Connor mumbled. It would be pretty telling if the anomaly detector broke down the moment they opened an anomaly to get Jess back from the Early Jurassic.

"Okay, so I've got two hours to find her," Becker mumbled. If she was clever – what she without a doubt was – she'd stayed close to where the last anomaly had opened. Since Connor used the data from the ADD, their anomaly should open at the same spot, at least almost.

"Don't worry," Abby said, giving him an encouraging smile. "This'll work. We'll bring her back."

"Of course, we will," Connor said, putting a small piece into the device, rubbing his hands. "Okay, I'm ready."

"We only have one chance," Becker reminded him. A trial run wasn't possible. The ARC would detect the anomaly and find their device before they would be able to even try to get to the Early Jurassic. And they couldn't enter the same virus into the ADD twice. "Are you sure this will work?"

"Of course, I am," Connor assured him, rolling his eyes. "I'll drive to the ARC now. In one hour I'll enter the virus, sending you a text when I do. Then you'll open the anomaly, go through, get Jess back, and the thing will be closed before anyone in the ARC will notice it."

"We can't risk another Sinosaurus or anything else coming through," Becker said. "Abby, you'll lock the anomaly once I'm through. Give me the two hours to get Jess. Then you lift the lock and give me another thirty seconds to get through."

"I'll give you a minute," she argued.

"Thirty seconds," Becker repeated. "The incident at the ARC didn't even take a minute. You can't be sure what's coming through if you leave it open that long."

"But…"

"Thirty seconds, Abby," he insisted.

Unwillingly, she gave in and nodded. They both knew she would leave the anomaly open until both Jess and Becker were back through.

"I'll head to the ARC," Connor stated. "If I enter the virus immediately, they might notice anything. You be careful, mate."

Becker smiled wryly at that. "Just make sure this works!"

"It will, no worries," Connor promised before rushing out of the door.

"Now all we can do is wait," Abby said, sinking down on the couch in Jess's apartment.

Yeah, wait. Becker was about to lose his temper. He'd done nothing but waiting for the past two weeks. Every minute that passed was a minute Jess might not have. Maybe she was hurt and needed medical care…

He'd let her go. He'd let her be pulled through the anomaly into the era where she was trapped now. He had to make it right and bring her back. And he was sure she was still alive. She was much stronger than most people thought she was.

Besides, he had yet to give her an answer to her confession. He knew she'd said it because she thought she was about to die. But he also knew she wouldn't have said it if she hadn't meant it. She had wanted him to know, and he wanted her to know.

It felt like days until finally Abby's mobile phone beeped. She'd long since given up starting a conversation with Becker while they were waiting. He was too focused on the time, coaxing it to go by faster.

"He's ready," Abby announced after having read the text. "We can start."

He nodded, grabbing his EMD. "When I'm through, you'll lock it immediately, and you won't open it until two hours have passed."

"I know," Abby assured him, holding up her watch. "We've been through all this three times already. Don't worry, I know what I have to do."

"I know," Becker said with a sigh.

Abby smiled at him, placing a comfortable hand on his shoulder. "You will go through and get her back. I'll start the countdown right after you're through. And in two hours you will both be back here with us."

He nodded, giving her the hint of a smile. They both knew that if he didn't find her within the two hours, he wouldn't come back either.

Straightening, Becker charged the EMD. "I'm ready."

"Be careful," Abby told him, before she started Connor's prototype. It hissed, and she already feared it might not work, when suddenly there was a surge and an anomaly opened in the middle of Jess's living room.

Becker took a deep breath and walked through.

"Good luck," Abby mumbled as she locked the anomaly and started the countdown on her watch. Two hours of waiting lay ahead of her.


	4. Searching

**Title: **Searching

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

He held up his EMD, looking around him. The ground was covered with high ferns, most of them dry, but some still fresh and green. There were trees and bushes about a hundred meters away from the anomaly making the scenery look a lot like a jungle in the middle of a desert.

In some distance to his right he could see a herd of Diplodocuses browsing. They didn't care about him or the anomaly.

He looked to the ground, trying to determine if this was the time and the place where Jess had disappeared. But there was nothing. At least, there was no blood. But did that really mean she hadn't been killed? Or did it just mean this was the wrong time?

But even if this was the right time, it had been two weeks already. If there had been blood, it surely was dried and covered with ferns by now. The only way to find out was searching the area for her.

Calling for her was out of the question. It would draw the attention of every carnivore in the area to him, and thus block their passage back through the anomaly. He couldn't risk that. He was here to bring Jess back, after all. And he would do that at all costs.

Becker was sure Jess knew that making any noise around here wasn't such a good idea. That was why he hadn't heard her voice calling his name yet.

The anomaly behind him closed as it was locked from the other side, leaving nothing but a small bubble of light. Becker started the countdown on his watch. Two hours. He had two hours to find out what had happened to Jess.

Carefully, he moved forward towards the trees. She'd certainly stayed on one of the trees to be out of reach of the carnivores walking around here. It had to be one of the higher trees where she was also safe from the bigger predators.

Looking at the scenery of the Early Jurassic, he couldn't help but wonder if Lester might be right. He wasn't sure any human being could survive here, and Jess wasn't trained for this.

On the other hand, Connor and Abby had managed to survive in the Late Cretaceous for over a year – and knowing Jess he assumed she'd questioned them about it since the day they'd moved in with her. So she might by now know much more about dinosaurs and prehistoric eras than he did.

She was smart, much smarter than most people noticed through the friskiness of her clothing and her cheery nature. Many people thought because she was young she was incapable. But Becker knew the truth.

She was young, yes, but she was also brilliant and strong. She had survived, she was still alive. He just knew it. And he would find her. He wouldn't accept the possibility that she was dead and he couldn't bring her back.

"Damn it, Jess, where are you?" Becker whispered to the thicket in front of him.

Lester might not believe that Jess was smart enough and strong enough to survive two weeks in the Early Jurassic, but Becker did. He knew she could survive here. He was sure she knew enough about dinosaurs and prehistoric eras to stay alive.

Every day he'd spent waiting for the moment they could reopen the anomaly to get Jess back, Becker had needed to tell himself that it wasn't too late, that she was still alive. He needed to believe that not to give up hope and go insane. There was no way she had died here. There was no way he would _not_ be able to bring her back.

Slowly, Becker took one step after the other, all the time aiming his EMD in case there was another Sinosaurus trying to attack him. They had found out that there was possible prey available every now and then, so they surely would come back here eventually.

Becker stopped in the middle of the movement, scanning the area. But there was nothing but high ferns. Still, he felt like something was watching him. In the years in the army and at the ARC, he had learned to trust his instincts on something like that. If he felt like something was watching him, then in most cases something was.

Besides, this was an era where human beings were lowest in the food chain. Even the smallest raptors from prehistoric eras were more dangerous than any carnivore existing in the twenty-first century. And his EMD was the only thing standing between them and Becker.

If only Lester hadn't been so damn stubborn. He should have sent a team here to save Jess. Then Becker wouldn't be her only option, her only chance to get back home.

And she wouldn't have had to wait two weeks for her rescue. If they'd been allowed to work at the ARC, their mission would have started much faster.

It was Jess, after all. She was the hub of the whole organization. This wasn't supposed to happen to her. She was supposed to be safe and sound in the ARC, sitting in front of her ADD coordinating missions. The danger of being trapped in a prehistoric era and attacked by dinosaurs wasn't in her job description.

He shouldn't be the only one here to save her. They shouldn't have been forced to contrive this mission behind Lester's back.

Of course, he knew it hadn't been possible. The rule that no one went through an anomaly existed for a very good reason. They had lost too many people that way. But Becker had to make sure they didn't lose someone else.

He had lain down the rule to avoid people dying in another time because they didn't know how to handle the creatures. He had always been convinced the rule was right and necessary. But ha had never thought that one day it would be Jess he had to abandon because of this rule. He simply couldn't let this happen.

Of course, he could have asked Matt and Emily. They would have helped him, gone with him. Matt had done it before and he would have done it again to save Jess.

He also knew that the fewer people knew of their plan, the less dangerous it was. It was bad enough that Becker had had to drag in Connor and Abby for his plan. But he couldn't have done it alone. He was the man for the action, for shooting, not for computer stuff. Besides, he couldn't have locked the anomaly to make sure nothing came through.

If he had taken the device to this side of the anomaly, it might have been destroyed or just taken away by one of the dinosaurs – and thus their way back to the twenty-first century would have been blocked forever.

Becker checked his watch. He still had about one hour and twenty minutes left. Jess surely had stayed close to where the anomaly had opened the last time. That was where he would start looking for her.

The ferns rustled beneath his boots. He heard twigs cracking to his left and quickly aimed at the direction. But there was nothing. At least, he couldn't see anything.

He wondered if it had even been possible for anyone to survive here for a single day, let alone two weeks. It was incredibly hot, and there didn't seem to be anything growing here that was edible for a human being. But a human being was edible for too many things around here.

Besides, was it possible to escape a predator – even if it was as small as a Sinosaurus – without a weapon? He knew he relied a lot on EMDs or firing arms. But Danny had proven that a branch could be pretty useful as well.

Jess had survived. She had managed to kick the Sinosaurus, which was a pretty good way of breaking free from the smaller predators. Once it had pulled her through and she'd been able to see what she was aiming for, she had been able to kick the dinosaur and make it let go of her. He knew she had.

The trees weren't too far away. Jess could have run fast enough to get there before the Sinosaurus could attack her again. They weren't all that fast after all, were they? They also weren't as dangerous as the future predators – and Jess had managed to escape them as well.

He was close to the first trees by now. So far there was no sign of any human being ever having crossed this land. He'd at least hoped to find a piece of clothing, or a shoe. Any sign that Jess had been here, that this was the right era and searching here wasn't for nothing.

Still moving closer, Becker let his eyes search the treetops, hoping to find any sign of Jess's colourful clothes. She'd worn a yellow cardigan that day, light blue jeans and a bright red top. The colours should be easy to spot in an environment like this.

He knew she had to be somewhere near. She was alive, hiding on one of the trees, staying close by the anomaly waiting for help. Waiting for help she must assume would never come.

He heard the crack again and quickly turned to his left. He almost didn't have the time to react when he saw the Sinosaurus lunge at him. He jumped to the right, ducking the attack, and rolling over easily, landing in a kneeling position.

He aimed at the dinosaur and managed to fire three or four surges, taking out the Sinosaurus. But then something hit him from the right, causing him to fall. The EMD slipped out of his hands, and out of his reach.

Turning around, he saw four of the smaller predators charging at him. This wasn't the way he'd planned the mission to go.

Dizziness spread through his head, and his vision blurred as blood from a cut above his right eye, and sweat ran into his eyes. But he wasn't going to give up, not that easily. They had picked the wrong prey.

He kicked one of the Sinosauruses and quickly jumped up, hurrying over to grab his EMD. He managed to take one of them out, but another one clawed his arm, almost causing him to lose his weapon again.

He needed to survive and find Jess. He wasn't going to end up dinosaur food before he had the answer he was searching for. Letting himself get killed by raptors was out of the question.

For the last two weeks his only aim, his only focus had been this moment. The moment he stepped through the anomaly to bring Jess back where she belonged. Back to their time, back to the ARC, back to _him_.

This wasn't the way this day was going to end. This wasn't the way his mission would turn out. He would find her and bring her back – and no dinosaur that had ever inhabited the earth could keep him from doing so.

With new found determination, he aimed for the second dinosaur, well aware that the third and fourth were somewhere right behind him and would attack him in an instant. But he couldn't take all of them out at once.

He brought the second dinosaur down, and then blindly smashed his weapon behind him, hitting something that growled loudly the next second.

Quickly turning around, Becker aimed again, shooting the third dinosaur. The fourth one was gone, though, and in the distance he could see more of them surrounding the herd of Diplodocuses probably waiting for one of them to get separated from the herd.

So far, the Sinosauruses hadn't noticed what their fellow species had found. If they did, the way back to the anomaly was blocked. So Becker needed to find the fourth Sinosaurus and take it out as well – quietly if possible to avoid drawing the attention of the other dinosaurs to him.

He got back to his feet, his EMD at the ready, and carefully scanned his surroundings for the fourth predator. Wiping his eyes with one sleeve, he hoped to clear his vision, but it remained blurred. All he could see were silhouettes of trees and bushes.

The blow on his head must have been more severe than he had first thought. Or it was really just the blood and sweat in his eyes. He needed some water to clean his eyes properly, but couldn't reach for his canteen while another Sinosaurus was probably preparing the next attack.

Becker saw a movement to his right and turned towards it. But before he could shoot, something lunged at him, causing him to go down and lose his EMD again. He jumped up, ducking another blow of claws, and blindly searching the sand for his EMD.

He heard a thud behind him, and then felt something grabbing him, pulling him with it towards one of the trees.


	5. Serendipity

**Title: **Serendipity

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

Of course, there had to be an investigation following the disappearance of Jess. Lester had known it right from the start. There always was an investigation after disasters like that. He hadn't expected it to last a whole week, though.

Lester was the last one to be interviewed by the Security Service agent. The interrogation had started about a week after Jess had disappeared. By now, the agents had interviewed everyone in the building, watched their work for a few days, and read the reports of missions of the last year or so, all the while ignoring Lester's questions about what the hell all this had to do with Jessica Parker's disappearance.

Three agents were still inventorying the equipment of the ARC, weapons, locking devices, uniforms, everything. This whole ordeal was going to take another week, if not more.

"How are they taking it?" the man opposite of him asked.

Lester raised an eyebrow at him. "We watched a member of our team disappearing through an anomaly leading back to the Early Jurassic with no way for us to bring her back. How do you _think_ we're taking it?"

"Right," the agent said, writing something into his notepad. "Your people already told me that you were snappier than usual."

"What? Is this your way of looking for an excuse to replace me?" Lester grumbled. "I honestly don't give a shit if my people are offended by the way I talk to them. I'm trying to run a facility where people tend to disappear through bloody anomalies, never to be seen again. If they want to be treated with kid gloves, they should work in preschool."

Agent Jones took some more notes, mumbling something, before he asked, "How exactly did Miss Parker disappear?"

Sighing, Lester leaned back in his chair. "I'm sure everyone else has already told you," he said. "An anomaly opened in the ADD, Miss Parker was attacked by a dinosaur that pulled her with it through the anomaly shortly before said anomaly closed."

"And no one tried to save her?" the man asked.

"No, we don't care if our people get killed by dinosaurs," Lester replied.

The man looked at him over the table. "Your sarcasm isn't helpful in this investigation, Mr. Lester."

"And your investigation isn't helping this facility in dealing with a loss of one of its best and most important workers, Agent Jones" Lester grumbled. "I'd say we're even."

"I realise that Miss Parker meant a lot to all of you," Agent Jones told him. "Nonetheless, there are questions that need to be answered."

"If the Security Service doesn't happen to have any idea how to get Miss Parker back to our time, I don't think you'll find any helpful answers," Lester remarked.

"Security is exactly why we're here investigating the events leading to Miss Parker's disappearance," the man replied. "Something like that mustn't happen again. So, do I sense that you are trying to reopen the anomaly?"

Lester snorted. "There's a rule saying that no one is allowed to go through an anomaly, not even to save someone else."

"That doesn't answer my question," Jones stated. "Are there any attempts going on behind the ministers back to bring Miss Parker back to our time?"

Lester folded his hands and calmly explained, "Miss Parker was a field coordinator spending most of her time in front of the computers down there. She's neither trained for fighting dinosaurs nor for surviving in a prehistoric era. We have to assume that she is dead by now."

"Was that what you told Miss Parker's parents?" the agent changed the topic.

"I told them that their daughter is regarded lost and presumed dead," he answered. He could very well remember how hard Jess's parents had taken the news. They had asked him if there was any hope they would ever see her again, and he had refused to answer the question.

"What about the rest of your team?" he wanted to know.

"They lost a co-worker and a friend," Lester replied with a sigh. "Besides, they've all been here when it happened. Some of them take it harder, I suppose. I asked all of them to take a few days off after the incident. But Mr. Anderson, Miss Merchant and Mr. Connor returned to work in the meantime."

"Miss Maitland and Captain Becker didn't," Jones remarked.

Lester took a deep breath. "Miss Maitland and Miss Parker were flatmates and close friends," he said. "As to Captain Becker, I'm not sure what he and Miss Parker actually were. I don't tend to spy on my team."

Of course, he knew that his team would ignore his order not to reopen the anomaly and try to bring Jess back. Frankly, he _hoped_ his team would ignore the order, even though he wasn't sure how they should manage to reopen the anomaly without the equipment of the ARC. And even if they did, there was no guarantee that Jess was still alive. Surviving in a prehistoric era seemed impossible for someone like her. But Lester had underestimated her abilities before.

"What about the glitch in the ADD?" the agent asked, interrupting Lester's thoughts.

"It has nothing to do with Miss Parker's disappearance," Lester assured him. "Well, maybe except for the fact that she would surely have been able to repair it much faster than the team currently working on it."

He looked at the two men working on the ADD, and sighed.

One of the other Security Service agents stormed into Lester's office without knocking, a chart in her hands. "Sir, there's a locking device and an EMD missing."

The agent turned to Lester. "Do you know anything about it?"

"One moment," Lester replied, grabbing his phone. "Miss Merchant, my office."

Agent Jones looked at Lester expectantly.

"She can answer your questions," Lester assured him. While he knew that Matt would have been able to come up with an excuse just as fast as Emily, he had to admit that the latter was better brought up and the more pleasant company.

Emily appeared in the doorway about a minute later, politely knocking at the door frame before entering. "You wanted to see me, sir?"

"Apparently, there's a locking device and an EMD missing," Lester told her. "Would you mind telling our guests what happened to them?"

"They were lost during one of the latest missions," Emily hurried to explain. "Before we could lock it, the anomaly suddenly grew bigger swallowing the locking device and the EMD I had laid down next to it. I had to jump out of the way and couldn't grab the locking device or the EMD anymore to save it."

"Where's your report on that mission?" the agent asked.

Emily opened her mouth, not knowing how to explain that, but much to her surprise it was Lester saving her.

"Miss Merchant isn't familiar with our computer system yet," Lester said. "I extended the time she has to hand in reports so that she can ask someone for help if she can't handle the program. Usually, Miss Parker did this, by the way. Contrary to what you might think, it's not that easy to replace her."

"I thought the people working here have been chosen for their abilities," the agent remarked, frowning first at Lester then at Emily.

"If a T-Rex was about to turn you into its appetiser, would you rather have someone coming for your rescue who can handle a computer or a gun?" Lester asked in return. Then he added sarcastically, "It didn't help Miss Parker that she knew how to use a computer, did it?"

The agent didn't seem to know how to answer that question. So he turned back to Emily saying, "I expect the report on my desk by tomorrow."

"Yes, sir," Emily said, not sure if she would really be able to do that.

"How long will it take to fix the glitch in the computer system?" Jones asked, changing the topic.

"We should ask Mr. Connor and the computer genius you chose to help him," Lester told agent Jones, "I'd like to take a look how the system check is going, anyway." Not waiting for the agent to approve, Lester got up and stepped outside his office looking at the man working in the ADD.

"Connor, how far have you progressed repairing the ADD?" he asked.

"Almost finished rebooting the system, sir," Connor told him. "If we're lucky, rebooting the whole system will be enough to fix it. If we're not, I have to try and repair it manually."

Connor pressed a few keys as the computers booted, carefully watched by the Security Service agent who was supervising his actions.

He considered himself lucky nonetheless. For three days now there was a glitch in the ADD they couldn't seem to fix. The anomaly alert went off without an anomaly, or it didn't go off even though there was an anomaly.

Lester had headed him off the moment Connor had entered the ARC, telling him he was glad Connor was back and that the team needed his help with the ADD. Connor had run another system diagnosis, giving him the time to disappear to 'get something from his office' and enter the virus into the system.

When the system check was complete, Connor told them about malfunctions in the ADD leading to mistakes in locating anomalies. He had suggested rebooting the whole system, which took about thirty minutes, well aware that it wouldn't destroy his virus.

The anomaly alert went off right after he had rebooted the system, showing a new anomaly in Jess's apartment. _Crap!_

"What's going on?" Lester asked.

"Just another glitch, I suppose," Connor said, switching the alert off.

"Where is the anomaly?" the agent wanted to know.

"Miss Parker's apartment," the other tech replied before Connor had the chance to say anything.

Matt came running into the ADD. Hearing the location of the anomaly, he stopped, frowning at the others.

"Well, that surely is a glitch," Lester commented.

"Don't you want to send a team investigating it?" the agent asked, sounding surprised and suspicious. "Just in case?"

"Agent Jones," Lester said sternly. "If there was an anomaly in the middle of Miss Parker's apartment, don't you think Miss Maitland would have noticed it and called us?"

"Maybe she was surprised and killed by whatever creature came through," Jones said, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Lester gave him an almost pitying smile. "Apparently, you don't know much about Miss Maitland."

"_Someone_ should at least take a look, don't you think?"

"I'll go and see if there really is an anomaly," Emily suggested.

"Alone?" the agent asked, raising both his eyebrows, before Lester could answer.

Turning to agent Jones, Lester asked, "Do you want to accompany her finding out whatever creature came through?"

Jones swallowed, but didn't say a word.

"Yeah, I didn't think so," Lester mumbled.


	6. Salvation

**Title: **Salvation

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

Becker tried to break free from whatever was pulling him towards the trees. Why there anyway? His vision was still blurred, especially in the bright sunlight blinding him.

Had there been predators which had lived in the trees and had killed their prey there? He was sure he had never heard of any. But that surely didn't mean there hadn't been some. They didn't know all the different types of dinosaurs there had been over the millions of years before humans inhabited the planet.

Besides, the grip around his hand didn't feel like a dinosaur biting him. And the figure pulling him towards the trees was much too small to be a Sinosaurus. He still couldn't see clearly, blood and sweat still burning in his eyes. He only knew that the grip was too firm, too strong to be Jess's.

Maybe there had been other people from other eras trapped here as well. It had happened to Emily and about fifteen other people. So it was at least possible that there was a group of humans living here. If they had found Jess, she might still be alive.

Becker quickly climbed up the tree when they had reached it, finally able to wipe his eyes clean, he turned around when he was sure he was out of the dinosaur's reach, and froze. There she was, her hair a mess and her face and fancy clothes covered with dirt. But it was unmistakably her.

He had to wipe his eyes again to be sure he really saw her and wasn't just imagining it. "Jess," he whispered, relief written all over his face.

She threw herself into his arms, sobbing with joy and relief to see him. "You came for me," she mumbled into his chest. "You came for me."

Wrapping his arms around her, Becker placed a soft kiss on her dirty hair, whispering, "Always."

She snuggled into the embrace, leaning her head against his chest, hearing his steady heartbeat. For a moment, she didn't care if this was appropriate. She didn't even really care if he had wanted to hug her. She just wanted him to hold her. It had been too long since she'd last had contact with any living thing other than a dinosaur, let alone with him.

Becker wrapped his arms closer around her, pulling her against his chest. She was almost on top of him due to the fact that the forked branch didn't allow them anymore space. But he didn't care, not at all. He couldn't get her close enough to him. He knew he would never let go of her again, ever.

There was a somewhat awkward silence spreading between them. There were so many things Jess wanted to tell Becker, how much it meant to her that he was here, that he had risked his life to bring her back. That everything she said before she'd been pulled through the anomaly was true. That she was and forever would be in love with him. But she didn't dare. Despite the fact that he was here, she couldn't be sure he had feelings for her. Not those kind of feelings, anyway.

Becker bit his lip. He desperately wanted to ask Jess if what she'd said before she'd disappeared was true. If she really loved him.

And then he wanted to tell her what he felt for her, how much she meant to him, how much he cared about her. And that he would always, _always_ come for her rescue when she needed it. He would never leave her behind.

But this wasn't the time and it definitely wasn't the place for a conversation like that. He wanted her back home, safe and healthy, before he told her everything he wanted to tell her. And then he would take her out for dinner. Or maybe he would first ask her out and then confess. He wasn't sure about it yet.

"You know, this was supposed to go the other way round," Becker joked to break the silence. "I mean, me saving you and all that."

She chuckled softly, still snuggling up closer against him. Suddenly realizing how close she was to Becker, who smelled unmistakably of guns and aftershave, and that she certainly didn't smell of anything other than dirt and sweat, she reluctantly pushed away from him. "Maybe we should keep some distance between us," she mumbled, looking down. "I haven't taken a bath in ages. I must smell terribly."

Chuckling himself, Becker took some dirt off her hair. "You survived two weeks in the Early Jurassic and all you care about is the way you smell."

Her head shot up and she looked at him again. "Two weeks?" she whispered. "It had only been… two weeks?"

Becker nodded slowly.

"I… really thought it had been much longer," Jess whispered.

"I'm sorry I couldn't be here earlier," he replied, contritely, pulling Jess back against him and kissing the top of her head. "And don't worry about the way you smell, Jess. You always smell nice."

"I'm not so sure about that," she replied, but refused to give up her comfortable position. So she snuggled closer into his embrace.

"I… You know, I'm surprised you came for me at all," she admitted. "I thought no one was allowed to go through an anomaly. Didn't you bring up that rule?"

"Well, you obviously don't know the entire rule," Becker told her.

Jess frowned, but refused to let go of him to look into his face. It just felt too good to be in his arms, snuggled up so close against him, and suddenly she had absolutely no intention of leaving this place anytime soon. "The entire rule?" she asked.

"Yeah, the entire rule is no one is allowed to go through an anomaly," he explained, "unless to save Jessica Parker."

"That's the entire rule?" she mumbled against his chest. She was just too tired to raise her head right now. She just wanted to sleep for at least two weeks. The tension of the past days fell from her all at once, and she suddenly felt incredibly exhausted. And for the first time since she'd been pulled through the anomaly, she felt safe again, knowing he would watch over her and protect her.

"Yeah, it is now," Becker replied, gently stroking her hair, "since you've been pulled through an anomaly by a raptor. I couldn't leave you behind."

This made her raise her head to look at him. "Thank you," she whispered, a tear running down her cheek. "Thank you for coming for me."

He reached out to brush the tear away. "Anytime," he told her. "Literally."

Jess giggled. Something she hadn't felt like doing in a very long time.

Becker let his fingers caress her cheek. It felt so good to have her back, and be close to her again. She was so beautiful, and her skin was so soft and so… hot?

He frowned, letting his hand wander over her face, touching her cheeks and forehead. "Are you running a fever?" he asked, his voice filled with concern again.

"I don't know, maybe," she replied. "My ankle refuses to heal. I guess it's inflamed or something."

"We'll get you back to see a doctor and get proper antibiotics," Becker assured her. "You've been running around with that for two weeks?"

"At some point I didn't feel the pain anymore," she replied. "At least not that much. It's okay. Well, it hurts, but I can handle it."

"Remind me to ask Lester to let you join my team," he said, looking at her with something she had never thought she would see directed at her. It was a look he saved for the best soldiers in the team, a mixture of appreciation and pride.

"Sorry to decline," Jess said, causing him to chuckle again. "Speaking of Lester, I can't believe he allowed you to try and save me," she added.

Becker bit his lip, but didn't dare telling her the truth.

Jess's eyes widened. "You're doing this without his knowledge?" she exclaimed. "But… how?"

"Connor rebuilt his prototype for New Dawn, making it possible to open an anomaly big enough for a human to go through," he replied. "He calibrated the whole thing so that he could influence the time the anomaly would lead to. But I fear you'll have to ask him for all the fancy details."

"But… won't they make sure the anomaly remains closed?" Jess carefully asked. "I mean, they will send a team to… wherever you opened the anomaly in no time at all."

"Your apartment," Becker said, smiling at her. "And they could only send a team if they knew there was an anomaly. But Connor entered a virus into the ADD disabling the anomaly detector for the two hours he gave me to find you."

"You're all going to get fired," Jess whispered.

"Yeah, probably," Becker affirmed with a chuckle. Then he reached out to cup her cheek with his hand again. "But I honestly don't care. It was worth it. You're alive and I'll bring you back home. That's all that matters."

She blushed slightly. Even after having survived in this era for who knew how long, after having found a way to fight against dinosaurs without weapons to speak of, he could still make her blush with a simple comment like that.

They both remained silent again for a moment, neither of them sure what to say, neither of them daring to say what they _wanted_ to say.

"I knew you were still alive," Becker finally whispered. "I just… knew you would survive. I'm really proud of you, you know that?"

"It was helpful that I've heard so much about dinosaurs and surviving in prehistoric eras from Abby," she told him. "The rest I kind of figured out on my own. The small predators don't dare approaching the large herbivores, so I stayed close to them when I was collecting food."

Becker looked around. "I'm surprised you found anything edible around here at all."

"Yeah, well, it wasn't much," she admitted, grimacing slightly. "You have no idea how tired I am of gingko leaves and dried raw meat."

Smiling, Becker reached into his pocket revealing a bar of chocolate he had wanted to give to her the day she'd disappeared. "Maybe this will help," he said.

Jess shrieked at the sight in front of her, grabbing the chocolate bar from him. She carefully unwrapped the paper and took a bite. Closing her eyes happily, she let the sweet taste fill her mouth. It had been too damn long since she'd eaten anything tasting so good.

"It's a new flavour, cappuccino cream, and… well, when I saw it I just wondered if you would like it, so I bought it for you the day you disappeared," he admitted. "I just… didn't have a chance anymore to let you try it."

She stopped eating to look at him. "And you… kept it?"

"Yeah, because I had yet to give it to you," he mumbled. "But it's already two weeks old, so… I hope it's still to your liking."

"It's delicious," she replied through a mouthful of chocolate. "Even though, right now I wouldn't care if it had orange in it. It would still be the best I have eaten in ages. Thank you."

Becker smiled as he watched her finish the chocolate. Reaching out, he brushed some traces of the chocolate bar out of the corner of her mouth, letting his hand rest on her cheek much longer than necessary.

Jess leaned into the soft touch, her eyes never leaving Becker's. She could see the relief in his eyes, and suddenly she realised that she'd done him injustice believing he wouldn't come for her. He would never abandon her.

"So… um… shouldn't we… get back?" Jess asked after she had finished her chocolate.

"We have to wait a little longer," he replied, pulling her close to him once more. "I told Abby to keep the anomaly locked for two hours. So we have to stay here for another hour or so. But then we'll go home."

"Can you do me a favour?" she asked quietly.

"Of course," Becker assured her. "Whatever it is."

"I'm just… so tired," she mumbled against his chest.

"Sleep, Jess," he told her. "I'll watch over you. And I'll wake you up when it's time to go home."


	7. Waiting

**Title: **Waiting

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** _Sorry, this took me forever. With LJ down, I didn't have a chance to post anything. And in the last three days, I really didn't have the time – at least not when it's pretty much taking forever for LJ to post anything. :/_

_Anyway, I'll try to update sooner next time, I promise._

Abby was pacing the living room of Jess's apartment. She checked her stunning gun, made sure it was loaded and working. Then she checked her watch again. Sixty-three minutes left.

She started pacing again. She should have gone with Becker. She shouldn't have left him alone on the other side of the anomaly searching for Jess. Together they would have been able to search a larger area within the two hours they had.

What if Becker wasn't able to find Jess in time? Jess knew that it was important to stay near the anomaly in case it reopened, but maybe it hadn't been possible. Maybe she had been forced to move farther away from the anomaly to find shelter.

Abby had told Jess nearly everything there was to tell about the time she had spent with Connor in the Late Cretaceous. She had told her how they'd stayed near the spot where the anomaly had been, in case it reopened. How they had spent the first nights on a tree before building the cave they had then lived in. How Connor had gone fishing, and how they had fed on dead dinosaurs if they'd found one.

Jess surely new enough about dinosaurs and prehistoric eras to survive there. But knowing enough about it and actually surviving there were two different things, and Jess wasn't trained for fighting against dinosaurs.

On the other hand, she had fought against future predators. She had shown that she wasn't as weak as many people thought she was. There was at least a chance that she had survived.

Jess hadn't been attacked by a large carnivore, after all. It had only been a Sinosaurus. They weren't that strong, basically scavengers. And while they undoubtedly could kill a human being, it was also possible for a human to fight them.

Checking her watch once more, she swore silently. The time was going by so slowly that she was sure she would lose it before the two hours were over. Sitting around waiting just wasn't for her.

Maybe she should just unlock the anomaly and go check if Becker had already found Jess. But she knew it was too risky. They simply couldn't risk anything else getting through, especially not one of the large carnivores.

Lester would give them hell for trying to save Jess, anyway. If there was a creature incursion because of them disobeying his orders, they could all try and look for another job.

Abby swore silently when she heard a knock on the door. Hoping it was just another sales rep, she remained silent pretending there was no one home.

"Abby, open the door! I know you're in there," she heard Emily's voice call through the door.

"Are you alone?" she asked through the closed door.

"Yes, I am," Emily replied. "Now let me in!"

Abby hurried to open the door, pulling Emily in and closing it again. "Did Lester send you?" she wanted to know.

Emily nodded, staring in disbelief at the closed anomaly in the middle of Jess's apartment. "The anomaly alert went off saying there was an anomaly right here," Emily told her. "As I can see, it was a mistake. Let me report back to the ARC."

She reached to her side turning off her black box. "You did it," she mumbled. "You reopened the anomaly."

"What does that mean, the alert went off?" Abby asked, ignoring Emily's comment.

Emily turned back to Abby, and explained, "For a few days there has been a glitch in the ADD. The alert goes off when there is no anomaly or there is an anomaly but the alert doesn't go off. Connor is trying to fix it. When he rebooted the computer system, the anomaly alert went off showing an incursion here. Lester sent me to check it out."

Abby swore silently. This wasn't going how they'd planned it.

"Don't worry. Lester believes it's just another glitch," Emily assured her. "At least he said so. Let me just call the ARC to report that there is no anomaly."

"You should head back to the ARC, before anyone smells a rat," Abby said.

"You can't do this alone," Emily told her. "And you shouldn't have to."

"Emily, we didn't want to drag you in…" Abby started.

Emily interrupted her, "Abby, Jess is my friend, too. I care about her as much as you do. I'll do what I can to bring her back." She turned her black box back on.

Abby smiled. Somehow she had expected Emily to say something like that.

"This is Emily Merchant reporting," she spoke into her earpiece. "Yes, sir, as you assumed, the alert was a glitch. There is no anomaly."

Abby grinned. Apparently, Emily had learned a lot from Matt already. She was a better liar than him by now.

"No, there hasn't been any anomaly anywhere near," Emily replied. "At least none that we know of."

Abby watched the surprised look on Emily's face while she got instructions through the earpiece.

"Yes, Sir. I'll report back when I'm finished," Emily said before switching off her black box again and taking out the earpiece. "Lester just told me to search the area for any possible anomalies or creature incursions," she said.

Abby smirked. "The Security Service is investigating Jess's disappearance, isn't it?" she asked.

Emily nodded.

Of course, Lester knew what was going on behind his back – and he did his best to cover up for them.

"So, Becker went through the anomaly?" Emily guessed.

"Yeah," Abby replied, looking at her watch. "I'll unlock the anomaly in fifty-five minutes. Once they're back through I'll shut the anomaly down."

"Maybe I should go after him," she suggested. "I mean, he might need some help finding Jess."

"I can't let you, I'm sorry," Abby told her. "Becker wouldn't want you to go after him. Besides, he's been on the other side for over an hour now. He certainly already found Jess – and if he didn't, he might be too far away from the anomaly for you to find him in time."

"What if he can't find Jess?" Emily asked.

Abby looked at her for a moment, before sighing. "Let's just hope he can," she mumbled.

Emily nodded, knowing that they wouldn't see either of them again if Becker didn't find Jess within the two hours. "Do you think he realised it in the meantime?"

Abby raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"That he's in love with her," Emily told her with a shrug. "You know, Matt came up with a bet what it might take for him to finally realise and make a move on her."

Normally, Abby would have laughed at the idea. But she didn't feel like laughing at the moment. "I bet Jess disappearing through an anomaly and being trapped in the Early Jurassic for two weeks wasn't on the list."

"No," Emily replied with a frown. "I'm sorry, I shouldn't have said anything. I was just wondering if he knows why he is doing all this, risking all this to bring her back."

"Believe me, if they get back through and he doesn't finally make his move, I'm going to kick him until he does," Abby said. "By now he should know that there's no time to wait forever."

Emily just nodded.

For a moment, neither of them said a word, until Emily finally asked, "How long will you keep the anomaly open?"

"Becker gave me thirty seconds, but I'll keep it open as long as I can," Abby stated. "I'm afraid it won't be for long, though. Connor's prototype isn't built for keeping the anomaly open forever. Eventually, it will break down."

"If they don't come back through, I'm going to search for them."

"Emily…" Abby started.

"I'm serious," the other woman quickly interrupted her. "We both know what it's like to be forced to survive in a prehistoric era. I won't abandon them. You can reopen the anomaly and get all of us back. You did it once. You can do it again, can't you?"

"To be honest, I'm not sure about it," Abby mumbled. "Eventually, they will notice and make sure we can't open any anomaly ever again."

"My mind is made up," Emily insisted. "Matt went after Connor, you went after them, now Becker went after Jess… I'm not going to stay here and do nothing if they don't make it back through."

"Okay, here's the deal: If they don't come back before the anomaly gets unstable, we'll both go through," Abby stated.

Emily turned to give her a small smile. "I don't think Connor is going to like this."

Abby just smirked. "I don't think Matt is going to like it if you go through. And to be honest, I don't want to be here when he finds out."

"But you let Connor take the blame for it?" Emily asked.

Abby shrugged. "He's not here, so there's no way he could hold you back. I am here, and unless you knock me out with your EMD, technically, I would be able to hold you back, so..."

Emily smirked at her. Then she became serious again, asking, "What if one of the raptors comes through before they do?"

Grinning, Abby held up her stunning gun. "That's what this is for."

Emily grimaced, throwing her EMD at her. "Here, I've got another one in the truck."

Abby frowned at her. "Why are we doing this secretly if everyone already knows about it?"

"We only know because we'd all do the same," Emily told her with a smile, heading for the door to get the other EMD. "We just wouldn't know how to rebuild the prototype."

Smiling, Abby shook her head. It had been Becker's idea not to let Emily and Matt in on their plans – not because he didn't trust them, but because he hadn't wanted them to risk their jobs as well. He should have known they all would be in no matter what.

Emily opened the door and almost shrieked in surprise. Then she smiled brightly.

Matt smirked, holding an EMD out for her. "I guess you were looking for this."

"What are you doing here?" Emily asked, stepping aside letting Matt in.

"The anomaly alert went off signalling an anomaly in Jess's apartment," he said, looking at Abby. "Come on, seriously. Glitch or no glitch, this was too obvious to be a coincidence."

"What was your excuse to disappear?" Abby wanted to know.

"I'm trying to capture some Dodos that don't exist and send them back through an anomaly that doesn't exist, either," he replied. "But with the glitch in the ADD, no one will know. I told them I saw first one of the Dodos and then the anomaly on my way back to the ARC."

"Does anyone _not_ know we're trying to bring Jess back?" Abby asked, rolling her eyes in frustration.

Matt shrugged. "The Security Service, I guess," he told her. "Lester's doing his best to keep them busy."

"So, Lester knows as well?" Abby asked, swearing silently.

"I don't think he actually knows anything," Matt assured her. "But I'm pretty sure he has a hunch, especially since the alert went off."

"Great," Abby said, snorting. "So it's just a matter of time before a team gets here to stop us."

"I don't know," Matt told her with a shrug. "Somehow, I have a feeling he won't send a team over. Frankly, I think Lester has a soft spot for Jess."

"He has a soft spot for all of us," Abby argued with a smile. "He just doesn't want to admit it."

Matt smirked at her. "So you think there's a chance we're not going to get fired for this?"


	8. Returning

**Title: **Lost in time – Part 8

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

Smiling, Becker looked at the woman lying in his arms. Jess was sound asleep, nestled to his chest, breathing in a calm and steady rhythm.

He still couldn't believe she was alive. For two weeks he'd had to deal with the fear of having lost her forever. He had even come to terms with spending the rest of his life here in the Early Jurassic searching for Jess.

His worst nightmare had been not being able to find her and bring her back. He was glad it hadn't come true. He honestly wouldn't have known how to move on without her in his life.

Gently brushing a strand of hair out of her peaceful face, Becker took in the sight of her. He didn't have to go on without her. She was still here, still with him. And once they were back home he was finally going to tell her everything he should have told her for ages.

The alert on his watch beeped, signalling that it was time to go home. Becker scanned the fern-covered area lying between the tree and the anomaly. It was quiet, no sign of a raptor nearby. But he knew this didn't have to mean anything. The raptors were small. They could easily hide in the high ferns.

He softly let his hand brush over her cheek. "Jess," he whispered. "Jess, wake up. It's time to go home."

She made a sound of complaint, before reluctantly opening her eyes, and then looking up and smiling at him.

"It's time to go," he softly repeated.

Jess nodded, repressing a yawn. She couldn't remember the last time she had slept so well. Even if she knew it was never going to happen, she couldn't help thinking she could get used to waking up like this.

Becker looked at the small bubble that was the locked anomaly, and frowned. "I think we'll have to run," he stated. "The raptors are pretty much everywhere." He couldn't help but wonder if she could really run fast enough and that far with her inflamed ankle.

"Hey," Jess said, interrupting his thoughts and causing him to look at her again. "I can do it," she assured him. "I _will_ do it. I have to."

He nodded. She had survived two weeks here. Two weeks with her inflamed ankle and without any weapons to speak of. He should stop thinking about her as a young girl who wasn't trained for fighting dinosaurs. She had proven herself a capable soldier.

"Okay," he said. "I told Abby to leave the anomaly open for thirty seconds. She'll unlock it in two minutes. How long do you think we'll need to get over there?"

Jess looked at the small bubble, estimating the distance between them and the anomaly. Then she shrugged. "Not more than a minute."

He thought about it, and then nodded again. "We only have one chance," he said.

"We just have to make sure we don't need another one," Jess replied. There was no way she was going to get trapped here twice.

"We will," he told her, making her look at him again. "I'll bring you back home."

"I know," Jess said, smiling at him.

Becker cupped her cheek with his hand, smiling as she leaned into his touch. A feeling of deep love washed over him, and he knew he needed to bring her back at all costs. "Jess, I want you to go through the anomaly, no matter what. Do you understand?"

"Like hell I will," she whispered.

"Jess…"

"I mean it," she quickly interrupted him. "You came for my rescue. There's no way I'm going to leave you behind."

He opened his mouth to argue with her, but then remembered that it was pointless. He had to make sure they both got through the anomaly, period.

Checking his watch, Becker took a deep breath. "Okay, it's time to go."

Jess nodded.

Realising that he had lost his EMD in the fight with the dinosaurs, Becker swore silently. "Um… You don't happen to have seen my…"

Grinning, Jess reached behind him and handed him the EMD.

"You… are amazing," he told her, softly pecking her cheek.

She smiled brightly, reaching for her weapon – that was her bat. Maybe the raptors would attack again, and she didn't want to face them defenceless.

They carefully climbed down the tree. Jess grimaced when she put weight on her bad foot, making Becker frown at her in concern.

"I'm fine," she whispered. "Let's go."

Nodding, Becker grabbed her hand, raised his EMD and ran – not exactly as fast as he could, because he wanted to make sure Jess could keep pace.

The way from the tree to the anomaly seemed endless. No matter how far they ran, they didn't seem to get any closer to the anomaly. Becker wasn't even sure how much time had passed since they'd left the tree.

Ferns were rustling all around them, passing by as they ran towards the anomaly.

For the longest part of the way, everything went smooth – too smooth. Becker's body tensed. He had this feeling again that something was watching them.

"You know, I can run faster," Jess whispered next to him.

Becker turned a little to look at her, then nodded and picked up speed. He wasn't surprised that Jess easily kept pace.

They were approaching the still locked anomaly. So far, there was no sign of any raptors.

"Come on, Abby, unlock it," he mumbled.

Just this moment, the small bubble flickered before turning into a fully open anomaly again.

Becker stopped dead, Jess almost bumping into him, when a Sinosaurus came out of the ferns right in front of them. Becker aimed at it, shooting twice and bringing it down.

"Move," he shouted, but it was too late. Two more raptors appeared to his right and three to his left.

He aimed again, taking out another one, and another one. But there were just too many of them. He knew they couldn't fight them much longer. They needed to get through the anomaly so that Abby could shut it down.

"Jess," he almost yelled. "Go!"

"I'm not leaving you," she yelled back, hitting one of the Sinosauruses with her branch. At a time, she would have shrieked and looked for a place to hide if confronted with a crowd of deadly dinosaurs armed with claws. But at one point she had gotten used to fighting them.

She wasn't panicking anymore, even though she was still afraid. But she had learned to use the adrenaline as a driving force to fight the dinosaurs. And she had started to understand Becker's inordinate affection for guns.

She also had to admit that fighting dinosaurs and actually winning felt good – in a strange and somehow disgusting way. She wasn't someone who enjoyed killing. But when she allowed her survival instincts to kick in, she easily became what she would certainly consider a killer.

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the raptors aiming for Becker. "Watch out!" she shrieked.

Becker jumped to the side, ducking the attack. Elegantly rolling over, he shot the raptor in midair, before quickly turning about thirty degree and shooting the raptor that was about to attack Jess.

The Sinosauruses were trying to separate them from each other so that they were easier prey. Unfortunately, they were pretty successful – and they were outnumbering Jess and him by far. This wasn't how he had pictured their way back.

Becker had never seen Jess fight like this. As a matter of fact, he had never really seen her fight at all. It was surprisingly hot, and it filled him with pride at the same time.

He was proud of her, proud of the fighter she had become within two weeks. She was rather creative in fighting the raptors, and she was really good at it. Becker realised that he had underestimated her terribly. He had never thought of her as a fighter, but she put up one hell of a fight right now.

Becker watched Jess jump to the side, ducking another attack in a perfect soldier-like movement, and knocking the dinosaur down with a hard stroke. She hit it again rather brutally – and Becker found himself finding it rather arousing.

Her sidestep had brought Jess right in front of the still open anomaly. Turning around she looked back at Becker. Six more Sinosauruses were blocking his way. There was no way he would make it through.

"Jess, go!" he yelled again, shooting another one of the raptors.

"No!" she yelled back, charging for one of the raptors herself.

The raptor threw her to the ground, and she had to kick it to break free. She hissed when a sharp pain rushed through her leg. Quickly jumping back to her feet, Jess hit the raptor with her branch before a surge from Becker's EMD brought it down.

Pain was pounding from her ankle all through her leg. Looking down she noticed that the wound was bleeding again.

"I'm almost out," Becker told her. "Go!"

"I'm not leaving you behind," she stated, looking into his eyes for a moment. "I can't."

Becker looked at his battery and swore silently. He didn't have more than five maybe six shots left, but whenever he took out one of the raptors, two more were showing up. There were just too many of them.

There was a familiar flickering in the anomaly, making Jess turn around. It was getting unstable, meaning there weren't more than one maybe two minutes left before it disappeared and they'd be trapped here forever.

"Becker," she called out, slaying another raptor.

"Go," he shouted. "It's getting unstable. Go, now!"

"Not without you," she insisted.

Their eyes met for a split second, and he could see her love for him shining in them. For the first time, she didn't even try to hide her deep feelings, and he realised that it was either both of them going home or none of them.

The anomaly flickered again as he shot another Sinosaurus. Becker swore, he was almost out, there were still three raptors standing between him and their way home, and Jess was refusing to go.

They were going to die. If the anomaly closed and they were still here, his EMD pretty much useless, there was no way they would make it back to the trees before being mauled by the Sinosauruses.

For a brief moment his mind wandered back to the day he had watched Sarah being ripped apart by a future predator. He couldn't let this happen again. He couldn't watch Jess die. They still had a chance.

Becker jumped to his feet, charging for the Sinosauruses blocking his way with a hell-bent outcry. He hit the raptor with his EMD, almost in the same movement shooting another one and thus breaking through the barrier they had built up between him and Jess.

The anomaly flickered once more, threatening to collapse.

Becker saw one of the Sinosauruses charging for Jess, jumping up to attack her by air.

In a desperate attempt to keep his promise to bring her back, Becker launched forward, half jumping, half running. Jumping at Jess, he dragged her to the ground, just a second before the Sinosaurus could claw her.

Two more raptors, sniffing their chance with their prey on the ground, jumped at them immediately.


	9. Coming through

**Title: **Coming through

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** Okay, it's late, and I'm honestly not sure about the language issue this time. But I promised to update, and usually, I'm keeping my promises. :)

Lester was drumming his fingers on his desk. After the Security Service had questioned him for almost two hours, he was now sitting around doing nothing, trapped in his office because the Security Service didn't want him to 'interfere' with whatever it was they still had to do at _his_ facility.

Looking at the ADD, he watched Connor and the man from Security Service working on the computers. It was strange, but even after two weeks he still saw Jess sitting in this chair turning to him to give him one of her radiant smiles whenever he looked at the ADD.

If she'd been here, the ADD would be up and running by now. Connor didn't seem to be able to fix it – and the Security Agent wasn't helping him one bit. Two hours, and they hadn't been able to fix whatever glitch there was in the system. Or maybe they hadn't really tried…

The alert had gone off indicating an anomaly in Jess Parker's apartment. There was only one rational explanation for this, except for the glitch. He didn't believe in the glitch, though. It was too much of a coincidence. They had reopened the anomaly to get Jess back – and Connor was here to cover up for them.

They should have been allowed to send a team in search for Jess right after she had disappeared through the anomaly. It shouldn't have been two damn weeks. He should have covered up for them to help them get Jess back.

But he had known the Security Service would investigate Jess' disappearance – and he had known the minister would never approve any attempt to search for her. If he'd allowed his team to reopen the anomaly at the ARC, the Security Agents would have prevented the mission by now.

He saw Connor discussing with the agent and frowned. They seemed to be close to solving the problem – and certainly causing another one.

"Connor, my office," Lester called from the door. The he turned to the other man. "Don't touch anything without his supervision! Go, get yourself a coffee."

Swearing silently, Connor abandoned his work on the ADD and walked up to Lester's office. It always made him feel a little like being called to the headmaster. "Sir?" he asked carefully as he entered the room.

"Close the door," Lester said.

Connor did as he was told. He watched the Security Service guys walk through the ADD supervising the repair.

"So, you reopened the anomaly leading back to the Early Jurassic in Jess' apartment," he stated rather than asked.

Connor didn't blink. He wasn't sure what to reply to that, anyway.

"I take it at first only you, Abby and Becker were in," Lester continued. "Becker went through the anomaly to search for Jess, and for your sake I hope Abby stayed behind to lock the damn thing and make sure nothing comes through except for people belonging to this time."

Lester looked at the ADD, then back at Connor. "And your task was to disable the detection system so that no one found out about the anomaly," he finished.

Connor swallowed, still refusing to answer his boss' questions.

Raising an eyebrow at him, Lester asked, "Did I leave anything out?"

Weighing his options, Connor decided to go with the truth. It would be hard to explain to him how Jess came back if they didn't tell him. If she came back, that was.

"You rebuild the prototype to open the anomaly?" Lester offered when Connor kept refusing to say anything.

Connor nodded slowly.

"So, the reason why there was a locking device and an EMD missing was because you took them to Jess' apartment," Lester went on.

Again, Connor nodded in response. Realising that he was about to turn Abby and Becker in, he quickly said, "But it was entirely my idea, really."

Lester raised an eyebrow at him. "And you forced Becker to join in," he said. "How _exactly_ did you manage to do that? Did you kidnap his favourite weapon and threatened to dismantle it if he didn't join in?"

Connor opened his mouth to reply, but honestly couldn't think of a credible explanation.

"You're all in," Lester said. "I'm rather sure also Matt and Emily are by now, even if they didn't know about it at first. Cling together, swing together."

The comment made Connor swallow again. They were all going to get fired, he was sure they were. But if Jess was back, it was worth it.

"Why weren't they involved anyway?" Lester questioned, eying Connor up.

"Well… The less people know the littler the risk," Connor replied. "Besides, we all knew we were risking our jobs." He swallowed again. He shouldn't have said that.

"You're downright stupid," Lester told him. "No, wait, I'm rather sure it was Becker's brilliant idea to go through the anomaly alone."

Connor nodded once again. Sometimes, it really scared him how well Lester seemed to know all of them. Maybe he was a mind reader – or he had bugged their apartments. More likely.

"So, how much longer will the ADD be out of work?" Lester wanted to know.

Checking his watch, Connor said, "I gave them two hours to leave the anomaly open. I wasn't sure the prototype would work much longer. The time is up in two minutes."

Lester looked at his watch and then sighed. How was he supposed to come up with a credible explanation for Jess' return – _if_ she returned.

"I hope for all your jobs' sake that Becker will bring her back," Lester told him. "Now, I want you to go back down there, fix the ADD when it's time and then you'll drive me to Jess' apartment so I can give all of you a piece of my mind about this."

Connor swallowed again, and then nodded. This certainly wasn't going to end well, for none of them. Well, except for Jess, maybe. Technically, she wasn't involved in this. There was no way she could have known what they'd been up to. Besides, Lester seemed to like her.

He couldn't help but wonder if Lester would really fire them, or maybe just force them to leave for a couple of days, or weeks… or maybe months?

"What are you waiting for?" Lester asked annoyed when Connor didn't stir. "I didn't fire you yet. So I suppose I just gave you a direct order. Chop, chop!"

"Yes, Sir," Connor said, bowing out. He couldn't escape the feeling that his boss had just bought them a little more time.

He went back to fixing the computer system, all the time feeling Lester's gaze in his back.

Connor's watch beeped, and he turned to look at his boss. With a quick nod he went back to work, this time really trying to fix the glitch in the ADD. He just hoped that everything would go well.

At the same time, the alert on Abby's watch finally went off as well, and she unlocked the anomaly immediately.

They were standing in front of the entity of flying crystals, waiting for something – or hopefully somebody – to come through. Matt was flanked by Abby and Emily, all of them holding an EMD ready to shoot if what came through was another raptor.

But there was nothing.

Abby's heart started to beat faster. They weren't coming through. Something was wrong. She should go through to help them.

"How long can you keep it open?" Matt asked, the tension clearly audible in his voice.

"To be honest, I have no idea," Abby replied. "Not even Connor was sure how long this thing would work."

"We should go through," Emily stated. "Maybe they need help."

"No one's going through an anomaly," Matt grumbled.

"Oh, save it!" she almost shouted at him. "You went through, Abby went through, Becker went through… We don't leave anyone behind, do we?"

"We'll wait another five minutes," Matt stated. "Then I'll go through."

"Oh, no, you're not pulling that one on me again," she said, snorting slightly. "We're both going through, period."

"Guys, could you postpone your fight until after they're back?" Abby asked with a sigh.

The anomaly flickered dangerously.

"That's enough, I'm going through," Emily stated, already stepping forward.

"Give them another minute," Matt said, holding her back by blocking her way with his EMD.

"But…" Emily wanted to argue.

"We don't know what's going on at the other side," he said. As much as he wanted to go through and get both Jess and Becker back, he knew that if he went through Emily would follow him – and he couldn't risk that.

For a few seconds that seemed like days, they were standing in Jess' apartment staring at the open anomaly. It flickered again, and all of them raised their EMDs. But once again nothing was coming through.

"How long?" Matt wanted to know.

"Two minutes, fifty-four seconds," Abby told him.

"Damn it, Becker, what's taking you so long," Matt grumbled.

"Matt," Emily said, the tone in her voice speaking volumes to him.

He swore silently. "I know."

The anomaly flickered again.

"It's getting unstable," Abby told them. "I'm not sure how long it will remain open."

"You stay here," Matt told the two women. "I'll go through and bring them back."

"Matt…" Emily tried once more.

"I'm going alone," he insisted. "That's not debatable."

"Wait, there's something coming through," Abby shouted.

Only a second later two figures came more or less flying through the anomaly.

Becker landed hard on his back, having Jess caught protectively in his arms. "Shut it down, shut it down!" he shouted.

He rolled them both to the side over the floor, escaping the upcoming attack and covering Jess' body protectively with his.

Two raptors were jumping through the anomaly, but the surges from Emily and Matt's EMD tossed them back to their own time. Only a second later the anomaly disappeared as Abby switched off Connor's prototype.

Emily's eyes widened at the sight in front of her. Jess' face was buried in Becker's chest. They were both breathing heavily, and the signs of the recent fight were clearly visible on their bodies.

"What on earth took you so long?" Matt asked with a grin as he reached down to help his two colleagues up.

"We need the medics," Becker told them ignoring the comment. "Jess' ankle is inflamed."

"I'm fine," she objected, as he let Matt help her to her feet. She hissed when she tried to put weight on her wounded ankle, though. Looking at the faces of her three friends staring at her in relief and disbelief, she smiled, adding, "I just really need a bath."

Abby was the first to step forward, throwing her arms around Jess. "You survived," she whispered. "I knew you would make it."

"I learned from the best, I guess," she replied with a smile.

Grinning, Emily told her, "I always knew you were going to be back." She stepped forward to hug Jess as well.

"I'll run you a bath," Becker offered, not even waiting for her approval before he scooped her up in his arms.

"I can walk on my own," she protested.

"You shouldn't put too much weight on your ankle," he told her, looking at Matt again. "Call the medics, will you?"

"Already done," he said with a grin as he watched Becker carry the still protesting Jess into her bathroom. As a matter of fact, she didn't seem to mind Becker carrying her as much as she pretended to.

Becker gently let her down to lean against the sink while he turned on the water and searched for a bath additive. He opted for vanilla, checked the temperature, and then turned to smile at Jess. "Um… do you need any help getting into the tub?"

"No," she near enough shouted, and then blushed. "I mean… I…"

Realising how his question must have sounded to her, Becker hurried to explain, "Oh, no, I didn't mean… I… I just wanted to know if you want me to call Abby or Emily to help you."

"Oh," Jess said, blushing even more. "No, thanks, I… I'll be fine."

He nodded, slowly bowing out of the bathroom. He knew he needed to give her some private time, but every ounce of him refused to leave her side.

"You know, there's a smaller bathroom at the end of the corridor," she mumbled. "In case you… want to take a shower."

Nodding, he mumbled a thanks and – giving her a smile – closed the door behind him. He opened it again only a second later. "Um… I'll tell Abby to get you some fresh clothes."

"Thanks," she replied with a smile.

Sighing, Jess got rid of her dirty clothes. Examining them, she unwillingly decided to throw them away. They weren't only covered with dirt, after their recent fight to get back home, they were completely ripped.

Smiling, she let herself sink into the hot bath. It felt like heaven to be able to take a proper bath again. Her ankle hurt pretty badly, but she ignored the pain, wanting to clean the wound at least a little.

There was a gentle knock on the door before Abby stepped in. "Here's your fresh clothes," she said with a smile, carefully placing them on the cabinet. "I bet you don't mind a short skirt."

Jess turned her head to glare at her. "Thanks," she mumbled.

Grinning, Abby sat down at the rim of the bathtub. "Is there anything else you need – except for a certain army captain to wash your back?"

No matter how hard she fought it, Jess wasn't able to stop the flush from spreading over her neck and cheeks. "Stop it," she mumbled.

Abby sighed. "You know why he went after you, don't you?" She didn't wait for Jess' answer. She just left.

However, Abby couldn't help but turn in the doorway. "I'll send him over."

"Don't you dare," Jess exclaimed, and it was only her bad ankle that kept her from immediately jumping out of the bathtub.

Abby giggled, and then closed the door behind her.


	10. Home

**Title: **Home

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** Sorry this took me forever again. I had to go back to work today – so I'm afraid I won't have so much time to write and post anymore. *bawls* I miss my daily dose of Becker/Jess already.

Jess closed her eyes for a moment, enjoying the warmth of the water and the scent of the vanilla bath additive Becker had picked. She wondered if he had actually known it was her favourite.

She washed her hair, and after about twenty minutes later unwillingly got out of the bathtub again. Her ankle just hurt too much.

She spent another five minutes brushing her teeth, checking them carefully in the mirror to make sure she didn't need to see a dentist in the near future.

Carefully limping towards the door, she opened it to get back into her living room. A smile spread across her face when she saw Becker sitting on her couch.

He had changed into a pair of jeans and a black shirt – Jess could only tell it was another shirt from the fact that the sleeve wasn't ripped. His hair was damp from the shower. He was chatting with Matt, who sat in one of the armchairs.

Abby and Emily had settled down on the smaller couch.

Becker jumped up from the couch when the door to the bathroom opened, and rushed to Jess' side gently picking her up again to carry her back to the couch.

This time, she didn't protest. Her ankle hurt pretty badly, especially when she tried to walk. Besides, even if she didn't want to admit it, she could totally get used to Becker carrying her around all day long.

He gently set Jess down on her couch and – much to her glee and surprise – took a seat right next to her.

Jess looked at her friends. "You know, I… I just wanted to say thank you," she started. "Even though I'm not really sure how to put into words what it means to me that you did this."

"We're all very proud of you, Jess," Abby told her. "And we're all glad you're back."

"Thanks," she whispered. "For… everything. I know that you risked your jobs, and…"

"Hey," Abby softly said, interrupting her. "We choose to do it, because we care about you and because we wanted to bring you back."

"And because you knew what it's like to be trapped in a prehistoric era," Jess added, giving Abby a small smile.

"Yeah," she affirmed with a nod. "That was an issue, too."

"She's been speaking for all of us," Matt stated. "We'd do it again if necessary."

"Thank you," Jess whispered once more, giving Matt a watery smile.

There was a somewhat awkward silence spreading between them, until Abby said, "I'll cook you a nice meal. You must be starving. I hope you're okay with spag bol, because I fear we don't have much left in the fridge."

"To be honest, right now even black pudding sounds like heaven," Jess replied.

"Yeah, I know what you mean," Abby said with a giggle before heading for the kitchen.

"I'll give her a hand," Emily said, standing up as well to follow Abby. She glanced at Matt from the doorway, silently telling him to follow them as well.

"You know, maybe I should go and make sure the girls don't ruin your kitchen," Matt told them with a grin.

Jess smiled at him, and then a little more coyly at Becker. Why couldn't she escape the feeling that they were all just trying to leave her alone with him?

But she was too tired to think about that right now. Ineffectively trying to repress a yawn, Jess let her head sink back against the backrest. "Sorry," she mumbled, already about to drift off. The bath had made her body relax, and the effect of the adrenaline had worn off, leaving her even more exhausted than about an hour ago.

"It's okay," he whispered, putting his arm around her shoulders and pulling her against his chest. "You can sleep as long as you want now."

"Not longer than it takes them to prepare dinner, I suppose," she mumbled, smiling to herself. She absolutely had no intention of complaining that they had left her alone with Becker.

This surely wasn't the perfect moment, but Becker knew he needed to talk to Jess now before he lost the courage again.

"Jess?" he whispered, not sure if she was already asleep.

She made a sound, signalising that she was still awake and listening.

"Can I ask you something?" he mumbled, glancing over his shoulder to make sure the others weren't watching or eavesdropping.

"Sure," she mumbled, unwilling to give up her comfortable position nestled to him.

"Before you were pulled through the anomaly," he whispered, almost not audible. "You said something to me."

Jess swallowed, not sure what he expected to achieve with that.

"I just want to know if it's true," he told her, and despite the fact that he didn't want to lose the contact with her he pushed her back a little so that he could see her face. "If you really meant it."

"Yes," she whispered, looking down. "It… It's the truth. I… I know that it's stupid. I mean, I know you don't…"

"Jess," he tried to interrupt her.

But she kept talking. "What I mean is I understand if you don't… feel the same. I mean, I didn't say it because…"

"Jessica," he tried again, but with even less effect.

"…because I actually expected you to say it back, I just… thought I would never see you again, and… well, I… I wanted you to know. I don't exactly know why, but…"

He silenced her by putting his finger over her lips, causing her to look at him again. "I'm glad you meant it," he told her, smiling down at her. "Because it means once you're back at your feet you won't decline an invitation for dinner, would you?"

Her eyes sparkled in response to his words. "No," she exclaimed. "I mean, yes… I… absolutely wouldn't decline," she assured him.

Smiling, he leaned forward in an attempt to kiss her, stopping just millimetres away from her lips and searching her eyes with his.

Jess held his gaze, returning his smile, and drew in a shaky breath. He was so close, and he was about to kiss her. God, she had dreamed about that so often. Wait, she'd certainly drifted off, so this was just another dream, wasn't it? It had to be.

"I love you, too, Jess," he whispered, before leaning down to capture her lips with his. She tasted sweet of vanilla and a touch of toothpaste.

She froze for a second, before melting into his touch and kissing him back. This wasn't happening. It simply couldn't be. This was much too good to be true.

Becker pulled her closer, trying to deepen the kiss even more. He never wanted to let go of her again.

A shiver ran down Jess's spine, and she willingly wrapped her arms around his neck, letting him pull her just a tiny bit closer. This definitely wasn't a dream. It was real, absolutely real – and better than any dream could ever be.

The world around them stopped revolving, and they were completely lost in their first kiss. They even forgot about the fact that they were anything but alone in the apartment.

They didn't see Abby nudging Emily in the kitchen, pointing her head towards the couch.

And they didn't see the wide grin on both girls' faces and the smirk on Matt's face as they watched the newly enamoured couple.

Only the knock on Jess's door interrupted them, making them jump apart.

Jess smiled coyly, and leaned her head against Becker's shoulder.

"You know, I really thought I had to lock the two of you up in here until you finally hooked it up," Matt commented as he walked to the door to open it.

"If I ever need your dating advice, I'm going to ask," Becker assured him sarcastically. "You know what they say about people sitting in the glasshouse, don't you?"

Matt grinned at him, before letting the medics in.

"Her ankle is inflamed," Becker told them as they moved towards the couch they were both sitting on.

"You're hurt, too," one of the medics remarked, pointing towards the cut above his eye.

"It's just a scratch," Becker replied.

"Yeah, and he has another one on his right arm," Jess added.

The medics smiled at each other before the younger one started to treat Becker while Roberts, a man at the age of fifty-something, treated Jess. He knew the captain didn't like it if the younger medics treated Miss Parker.

Carefully examining the bite on Jess' ankle, Roberts pressed his fingers against the wound.

Jess hissed with pain.

"Hey, careful," Becker said, his voice threatening.

"It's okay," Jess assured him. "It's not that bad."

"The inflammation actually is pretty bad," Roberts told her. "But it's nothing we can't handle with a few antibiotics. You're running a fever?"

She nodded.

"Okay, we'll also give you an antipyretic then," he said, taking out two syringes and filling them. "Apart from that, you should put the foot up and rest a lot. And we want to see you in the medical bay tomorrow to see how the wound is healing."

Grimacing at the sight of the two syringes, Jess asked, "Can't I just take some pills?"

Roberts smiled at her. "This is much more effective."

She felt Becker's hand taking hers and squeezed it to draw comfort. This was stupid. She had fought dinosaurs, but was afraid of a syringe.

"Okay, done," Roberts announced, smiling at Jess.

"Thanks," Jess mumbled. "I didn't even feel anything."

Roberts glanced at his younger colleague to see if he had finished. The young man nodded.

"We'll see you tomorrow then," Roberts said with a warm smile, "unless you need our help earlier that is."

Matt walked the two men to the door, and turned back to Jess and Becker, grinning at them.

Luckily, they were saved from another comment by Abby bringing in their dinner.

Leaning over the plate, Jess took in the scent and happily closed her eyes. Carefully, she filled her fork with the spaghetti and put it in her mouth. "God, that's the best I've eaten in ages," she mumbled over the mouthful of pasta.

Abby smiled at her, starting to eat as well.

Opening her eyes, Jess looked at her friends and whispered, "It's so good to be home again."

"And it's good to have you back," Matt told her with a smile.

She wiped a tear from the corner of her eyes, sniffling slightly. "Sorry, I didn't mean to… get sentimental. I was just overwhelmed, I guess. It's just… so great to be back."

Smiling brightly, Abby told her, "Trust me, I know what you mean."

"How did you two survive this for a whole year?" Jess asked.

"I've been asking myself the same question," Abby replied. "You just do it if you have to, I guess. It's amazing how strong our survival instincts can be."

Jess nodded, shivering slightly. "When does this stop?" she whispered.

"The fear that when you close your eyes you'll wake up there again?" Abby asked knowingly. "I'm afraid it takes a while."

Becker protectively put an arm around Jess, kissing the top of her head. He'd never known how hard it had been for Abby and Connor even after they had returned.

"But it's easier if you're not alone," Abby added, smiling knowingly at her and Becker.

Jess quickly returned to eating her dinner, trying her best not to blush even more and failing terribly.

Grinning, Abby emptied her own plate.

After dinner, Jess leaned back against the backrest, smiling at Abby. "Thank you, this was delicious," she mumbled, her eyes refusing to stay open. "I'm sorry. I'm just… so tired."

"It's all right, Jess," Becker whispered, wrapping his arms around her and lifting her up. "I'll take you to bed."

"This way," Abby mouthed, leading him towards Jess' bedroom. She opened the door and pulled the sheets back.

Becker gently laid Jess down on her bed and reluctantly turned to leave. Then he remembered Jess' talk with Abby about the fear of waking up trapped in a prehistoric era again.

Abby gave him an encouraging nod.

Nodding himself, Becker crawled under the blanket next to Jess and caught her in his arms.

Smiling, Abby closed the door behind her.


	11. Busted

**Title: **Busted

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** Sorry this took me forever again. What can I say? Too much to do and too little time. :/ But at least I could finally make myself like the chapter.

When Abby returned, she wasn't surprised to see Matt and Emily snuggled up against each other on the couch. She opened her mouth to comment the scene, but was interrupted by a knock on the door.

Matt and Emily quickly sat up on the couch, bringing a considerable distance between them.

Frowning, Abby covered Connor's prototype with a towel from the kitchen before she opened the door. Her jaw dropped when she saw Connor and Lester standing in front of her.

Matt and Emily rose from their seats as well, staring at the two men outside the door.

"You know, some people might consider it impolite if they aren't invited in," Lester mumbled.

Abby stepped aside to let them in. "What the hell?" she mouthed at Connor.

The latter just shrugged, smiling impishly.

"Where is she?" Lester asked without ceremony.

Frowning at Abby and Emily, Matt asked, "Who?"

"Don't try to take me for a ride," Lester grumbled. "I know you didn't gather here to play rummy. You reopened the anomaly to bring Jess back and I know Becker went through, so I hope for your jobs' sake that they're both here somewhere."

"Sir, I honestly don't…" Abby started.

Lester pulled the towel from Connor's prototype, and then turned to raise an eyebrow at Abby. "And this is your new hair dryer, I suppose."

Abby bit her lip.

"Where are they?" Lester repeated, his voice showing only the slightest hint of impatience. "And don't tell me they're both lost in the Early Jurassic now, because if they didn't make it back through, you'll all wish you'd gone after them."

"They're asleep," Abby told him, pointing behind her towards Jess' bedroom. "This way."

"Abby, uh…" Emily started, but trailed off.

Abby smirked. "No, I'm pretty sure they are asleep," she said with a slight giggle as she led Lester towards Jess' bedroom.

She could have sworn she saw Lester stiffen before she opened the door – and relax right afterwards.

Becker was lying on his back, his arms wrapped protectively around Jess' figure. Her head was resting on his chest, her hair freshly washed and her face was peaceful if a little pale. There were no signs of her having spent two entire weeks trapped on the wrong side of an anomaly.

Jess stirred a little in her sleep, frowning slightly, and Becker immediately wrapped his arms tighter around her. She nestled back to his side, and her face relaxed.

The corners of Lester's mouth went up almost unnoticeably. He nodded, letting Abby close the door again.

"I expect all of you in my office tomorrow," he told them once he was back in the living room. "Precisely at ei… at ten."

Abby nodded, giving him a slight smile.

He turned to Connor, holding out his hand.

Fumbling in his pocket, Connor handed him the keys to the car. Lester had insisted they took his car. Much to Connor's surprise, he'd let him drive – but it had certainly just been to make Connor feel more uncomfortable.

He'd always thought it would be fun driving a sports car. But it was horrible driving _Lester's_ sports car with him sitting in the passenger's seat. Even though he hadn't said a word – or maybe because of that.

"God, we're so screwed," Connor mumbled, letting out the breath he'd been holding since he had left the ARC with Lester, and running a hand over his face.

"Why did you have to tell him?" Matt grumbled.

"Hey, I didn't tell him anything," Connor pouted. "I swear he figured it out on his own. As a matter of fact, he did a pretty good job buying us some time and covering up for us."

Matt snorted slightly, but he had to admit that sounded like Lester.

"You know, you can stay here," Abby offered – basically to change the topic. "This is a convertible sofa, so…"

"Oh, uh… No, thanks," Matt hurried to reply. "We're… heading back home."

Abby couldn't help smirking. "So, you two have different plans for tonight, huh?" she teased.

"I don't remember when this became your business," he grumbled.

Abby mouthed "We'll talk later!" to Emily as Matt dragged the latter out of the door.

"So… We did it," Connor mumbled, taking a deep breath. "We brought her back."

"Yeah," Abby whispered, hugging him. "We did it."

Connor was taken aback by her sudden emotiveness, but hugged her back nonetheless. "And Becker finally made his move, huh?" he whispered into her ear.

Abby giggled; something she hadn't felt like doing since the day Jess had disappeared. "Let's go to bed," she whispered, and Connor could have sworn she wiped a tear from her eyes.

They didn't sleep much that night. They mostly talked about the time they'd spent together in the Late Cretaceous, something they'd avoided talking about so far. They also made some plans to help Jess work up what had happened to her.

At about eight, they decided to make breakfast and then wake up Becker and Jess.

"You know, I have a feeling she'll be fine," Connor said as he set the table.

Smiling, Abby looked over her shoulder from making the pancakes. "Yeah, Becker will certainly make sure she will be," she replied. "Would you wake them up?"

Connor bit his lip. "I'd rather take care of the pancakes," he mumbled.

Shaking her head in amusement, Abby handed him the spatula. "Don't let them burn," she warned.

She tiptoed into the room and carefully touched Becker's arm, waiting for him to open his eyes and look at her before whispering, "I'm afraid you have to get up. Lester wants to see us in his office at ten."

He nodded, wiping his eyes with one hand and then looking at Jess' figure next to him. She was still peacefully asleep, nestled against his chest.

Smiling, Abby bowed out to take care of the pancakes – knowing that Connor would burn them eventually.

Sighing, Becker let his hand run up and down Jess' arm, whispering her name until she finally stirred. He hated to wake her up, knowing that she needed to rest and didn't need to hear Lester rant about their solo effort.

She made a sound of complaint before opening her eyes and blinking at him.

"Good morning," Becker whispered, softly pecking her lips.

"Morning," Jess mumbled, snuggling back up against him. She didn't feel like getting up.

He chuckled slightly, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "As much as I hate to say that, I'm afraid we have to get up. Lester wants to bite our heads off in about an hour."

"I spent two weeks in the Early Jurassic," she mumbled. "He doesn't scare me one bit."

"He's not going to like that," Becker replied. "Losing the only one his threats still had an effect on."

"Not the only one," Jess mumbled. "He still has Connor."

Chuckling again, Becker kissed the top of her head. "Still I'm afraid we should get up. You have to go see the medics, anyway."

"There's no way of talking you out of that, is there?" Jess asked, absolutely unwilling to give up her comfortable position. She was just too tired to move.

"Of letting Lester bite our heads off? Well, I wouldn't mind skipping that," he replied, reluctantly breaking away from her embrace to get up. "Of making you see the medics, no, there's no way of talking me out of it."

Jess grumbled something about unfairness and slowly got up from the bed as well.

Becker frowned in concern as he watched her carefully put weight on her bad foot. "Does it still hurt?"

She nodded. "But I can bear it."

He walked around the bed to offer support, but she pushed him away.

"It's okay," Jess assured him. "You've been carrying me around enough already. I can walk on my own."

"Then at least put your arm around me so you don't have to use your foot," he insisted.

Sighing, Jess gave in. She wasn't too fond of putting weight on her foot, anyway.

When she stood under the shower this morning, she suddenly realised how used she was to the luxury of her time. She'd missed her warm, comfortable bed. She'd missed taking a shower or a bath whenever she felt like it. And God had she missed pancakes for breakfast!

Smiling contentedly, she inhaled the sweet scent of the homemade pancakes before pouring syrup over them.

Becker frowned at her, while she picked at the pancakes. "Aren't you hungry?" he asked, his voice filled with concern.

"I know I should be," she replied. "But I guess I spent too much time living on a minimum of food. Don't worry, I'll be a good girl and have a proper breakfast."

Becker considered replying something, but remained silent. He shouldn't worry too much.

The drive to the ARC was relatively silent. Jess was hoping her friends wouldn't get fired because they'd saved her. But she didn't have any idea how to make Lester believe no one had disobeyed his orders. That it had just been a lucky coincidence that she was back.

There was no way. Lester knew the truth – and they were all screwed.

Her heart was pounding like mad when they all stood in front of Lester's desk about half an hour later. She felt like she'd been called to the headmaster. So much for Lester not scaring her anymore.

As usual, his face didn't show the slightest emotion as he summed up what had happened the day before. "So," he started, looking at everyone in front of his desk and folding his hands. "You disobeyed a direct order, opened an anomaly in an apartment and you went through."

Becker straightened when Lester looked daggers at him, but didn't say a word.

"Sir, I…" Jess tried.

Lester stared at her for a second, before snapping, "You remain silent, young lady."

For a moment it was dead silent in Lester's office. His six inferiors were holding their breaths waiting for him to fire them or yell at them – or whatever else he had in mind as a punishment.

Finally, Lester sighed. "I want to have your reports on my desk at eight tomorrow morning."

Looking puzzled at the others and back at Lester, Becker raised an eyebrow. "Sir?"

"You," Lester said, looking at Emily, "drove to Miss Parker's apartment to investigate the anomaly alert. While searching the area, you discovered an anomaly in a side alley."

Lester turned to look at Becker. "You were there for whatever reason, be creative. While you prepared to lock the anomaly luckily you," he looked at Jess, "came through followed by a raptor that attacked you. You all sent the raptor back to its own time and locked the anomaly. Happy ending."

Everyone looked at each other again, not daring to say anything or leave the room.

Sighing once more, Lester said, "I know, I should fire all of you. But do you have any idea how hard it is to replace your team? Not to mention that I would have to explain to the minister why I can't keep my people under control."

The corners of Matt's mouth went upwards just slightly. He'd known Lester wouldn't fire all of them.

"If something like that ever happens again, though, I'm personally going to throw you through the next best anomaly no matter where it leads to," Lester added. "You're dismissed."

They all turned to leave, but Lester held Jess back. "Miss Parker, I'd like to talk to you in private for a second."

Swallowing, Jess turned back around to look at Lester.

"None of this was her fault," Becker hurried to defend her. "There's no reason to…"

"Which part of 'in private' didn't you get, Captain Becker," Lester harshly interrupted him. "Now, leave us alone, please."

He opened his mouth to object, but when Jess softly nodded at him, he reluctantly left Lester's office.

Examining Jess for a few moments, Lester finally got up from his chair and walked around his desk. "I'm sorry," he mumbled.

Jess frowned at him. "I understand," she quietly replied. "Your hands were tied."

"That was… not what I meant," Lester told her. "I… underestimated you. I thought you were… Well, you're not exactly trained for surviving in a prehistoric era."

"I know," Jess replied. "And believe me I'm as surprised as you are. I understand that you thought I was dead."

The corners of his mouth went upwards just slightly, and for a moment an uncomfortable silence filled the room, before Lester finally said, "So, I heard you have an appointment at the medical bay."

"Yeah, I just… have to get my ankle checked," she replied coyly.

Lester nodded, and remained silent again, before he finally mumbled, "I'm glad they brought you back. This place isn't the same without you."

Jess opened her mouth, but closed it again. For the first time in her life, she really was speechless.

"I mean, you have no idea how hard it is to find a proper replacement for you," Lester added.

Jess couldn't help but grin at that. She wanted to reply something witty, but couldn't quite come up with anything. She suddenly felt too dizzy to think straight.

Frowning, Lester asked, "Are you alright?"

"Yeah, I just… need to… sit down," she managed to get out, before everything around her went black.


	12. Endangered

**Title: **

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** Sorry this took me forever again. I really got stuck, and then I didn't find the time to continue writing.

Lester quickly took a step forward to break Jess' fall. Picking her up, he rushed outside his office and into the ADD where the rest of the team was still waiting.

"Take her to the medical bay," he commanded, as he gently placed Jess' lifeless figure into Becker's arms.

Nodding, Becker rushed along the main corridor.

"I'll call her parents," Lester called after him. Swearing, he ran a hand through his hair. Had they really brought her back just for her to die of whatever she had been exposed to in the Early Jurassic? What was he supposed to tell her parents?

Sighing, Lester decided to go with the truth – at least as much as possible. He couldn't tell Jess' parents about her being trapped in a different time and attacked by a dinosaur, of course. But he could tell them that their daughter has returned and that she had been hurt.

"What happened?" Lester demanded to know when he stepped into the medical bay.

"She's suffering from toxaemia," Abby replied quietly. "The wound on her ankle is inflamed. She's in surgery. They need to cut the wound open and clean it."

"Will they have to remove her foot?" Lester carefully asked.

"They don't know yet," Abby replied.

Becker hit the wall with his fist.

"Her parents will be here in a few hours," Lester told them hoping that by then he wouldn't have to tell them their daughter hadn't made it.

"What are you going to tell them?" Emily asked.

Lester snorted. "Obviously not the truth."

At that moment, the door opened and one of the doctors stepped outside.

"How is she?" Abby asked immediately.

"What happened?" Matt demanded to know.

"Is she going to be okay?" Emily asked.

"Can we see her?" Connor jumped in.

"Please," Lester interrupted the flood of words coming from his inferiors. "Give the doctor a chance to speak."

"For now, we could save her foot," the doctor told them. "But Miss Parker is very unstable. She's suffering from a severe form of toxaemia and her chances aren't more than fifty per cent. We're treating her with antibiotics, but I fear that's all we can do for now."

"What does that mean, you could save her foot for now?" Becker asked gloomily.

The doctor sighed. "Miss Parker is having severe panic attacks, a common side effect of toxaemia. The problem is that if we can't calm her down, she's going to rip her stitches and her ankle doesn't have a chance of healing properly."

"Can I see her?" Becker asked impatiently.

Frowning, the doctor replied, "Miss Parker needs to rest. It's better if she has as little visitors as possible."

"I think I might know how to calm her down," Becker insisted. "Let me at least try!"

Frowning even more, the doctor looked at Lester. When the latter nodded, he reluctantly agreed to lead Becker into the ICU.

"No, please, I need to… go… They're… everywhere," Becker heard Jess' weak voice when they were standing in the doorway.

She was lying in one of the hospital beds, attached to a number of machines and tubes providing medicine. Two nurses were struggling to keep her from leaving the bed.

"Get away from her," Becker told them harshly.

The nurses frowned at him, but did as they had been told, when the doctor nodded.

Carefully, Becker sat down on Jess' bed and reached out to gently caress her cheek. "It's okay," he whispered. "Calm down, Jess, you're safe."

"Becker?" she mumbled. "They're everywhere. We… We need to go."

"No, no, you're safe," he assured her. "You're back at the ARC. No one's going to hurt you, I promise. You're safe."

"Becker," she blindly grabbed his collar. "Please, don't leave me alone again."

"I won't," he assured her, carefully climbing onto the bed and sliding next to her. "I'm here. Nothing's gonna happen to you."

She mumbled something he couldn't understand as she snuggled up close against him, her head resting on his chest, and sank into a deep and calm sleep.

The doctor sighed with relief and nodded, before he left the ICU to talk to Lester again.

"It works," he told his boss. "When Captain Becker laid down with her, she calmed down. She's sleeping now."

A small smile crossed Lester's face. "I suppose that means he's allowed to stay with her."

"Well, as long as he holds her, we don't need to give her any tranquilizers that might interfere with the antibiotics and the pain killers," the doctor replied with a shrug. "The fewer medicine she gets the better."

Lester nodded, before changing the topic. "I'll head her parents off and fill them in on the news."

Nodding, the doctor went back into the medical bay, leaving Lester alone with the rest of the team.

"I want all of you to go back to work," Lester told them. "You heard the doctor, we're not allowed to see her anyway."

"With all due respect, sir," Matt replied for all of them. None of us is going anywhere as long as we don't know if Jess will be alright."

"And there I really thought disobeying my orders once a day would be enough for you," Lester said with a snort before heading back down the main corridor.

"I'd say we take turns," Abby suggested. "As soon as anything changes, we'll inform the others."

Matt nodded in agreement. "You'll take the first turn. Emily will take over in three hours."

Only seconds later Lester turned around the corner again followed by two older people, probably Jess' parents.

"Why should try not to look like she already died," Connor mumbled, smiling at the two people as they past – the most honest smile he could manage at the moment.

"Your daughter hurt her foot on this mission," they heard Lester explain. "I'm sorry, but I can't tell you more about this mission, it's classified. Somehow, the wound inflamed and now Jess is suffering from toxaemia."

They turned around a corner and through the glass door Lester could see Becker lying in the hospital bed holding a pale figure that was Jessica Parker.

"Mr. and Mrs. Parker, I'm doctor Melrose," the doctor greeted them before they were able to enter the room. "We could stabilize your daughter and save her foot, but I don't want to raise false hopes. She's suffering from severe toxaemia and her chances of surviving aren't more than fifty per cent. We're treating her with antibiotics. They should kick in by the end of tomorrow. Then your daughter will soon recover."

"What if they don't kick in?" Mrs. Parker asked.

Dr. Melrose smiled briefly at her. "Let's hope that they will."

"Who's with my daughter?" Mr. Parker grumbled, looking at the two figures in the bed.

Dr. Melrose turned to look at the bed. "One of the symptoms of toxaemia are panic attacks your daughter has also been experiencing," he explained. "Apparently, Captain Becker's presence makes your daughter feel safe and it calms her down. That's why we allowed him to stay."

"So, this is Captain Becker," Mrs. Parker stated, taking in the sight in front of her as a small smile crossed her face.

"Do you know him?" Lester asked with a frown.

"No," the older woman replied with a smile, "but he was basically all Jessica talked about whenever we asked her about work."

Nodding knowingly, Lester opened the door for Jess' parents. "The doctor told us not to strain her, so I told the rest of the team to leave your daughter alone. But I'm sure they'll ignore my order."

Mrs. Parker smiled at him. "It's good to see how much everyone cares about Jess here. I've never been sure if she was honest when she told us how much she loved her job and the people she worked with. Now I know she was."

Lester nodded briefly, before bowing out.

Becker automatically straightened when he saw Jess' parents enter the room. Under normal circumstances, he would have gotten up and taken in a more soldier-like posture to greet them. But the circumstances were anything but normal.

"Mr. and Mrs. Parker," he greeted quietly so he didn't wake Jess up.

"Captain Becker," Mrs. Parker replied. "I really hoped we'd meet under better circumstances."

Becker raised an eyebrow at the older woman.

"Jess told us a lot about you," she explained. "And we always asked her when we would finally be allowed to meet you."

"You asked her," Mr. Parker corrected.

Becker didn't say anything. So, Jess had already told her parents about him and they had wanted to meet him? Was that good or bad considering their newly developing relationship?

Looking down at her lifeless body next to his, he prayed that it still mattered.

Mr. Parker opened his mouth to add something, but stopped when his daughter stirred.

"Becker?" she mumbled. "They're… everywhere… We… We need to… leave…"

She must have sensed the tension in his body and taken it as a sign of danger.

"No, Jess, everything's fine," he whispered soothingly and gently stroked her hair. "You're safe here, I promise. Nothing's going to happen to you."

"Don't go away," she whispered, snuggling up closer against him. "Don't leave me alone."

"I won't, I promise," he assured her, wrapping his arms closer around her. "You're safe, Jess, go back to sleep."

Mumbling something not understandable, Jess relaxed against his body.

Frowning, Mr. Parker took a seat next to his wife.


	13. Nightmare

**Title: **Nightmare

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** Yeah, I know, the chapter is long overdue. Once again, I'm sorry. But at least, the story is almost finished. ;)

He couldn't say he felt comfortable with Jess' parents never leaving their side. On the other hand, he certainly wouldn't have felt comfortable without them, either – not given the circumstances.

Jess' mother was rather nice, if a little curious. She kept asking him about his life, his family, his job… Well, at least she didn't try to interview him about former girlfriends – or maybe she just saved that for later.

The problem was Jess' father. He kept staring at Becker and – even though he absolutely didn't like to admit it – he managed to make Becker feel uncomfortable.

So, it was surprising that he fell asleep that night. Maybe he was just too exhausted.

The medication seemed to have kicked in. At least, Jess' fever was slowly going down by the end of the day. But still she wasn't over the worst. She was still having panic attacks and she still hadn't woken up – but now there was hope.

He didn't even notice that he fell asleep. Okay, he probably never noticed. But he had planned on staying awake so that he could watch over Jess.

He was rudely awakened by the alert of the devices monitoring Jess going off.

"What happened?" Jess' father demanded to know.

"Cardiac arrest," one of the doctors said. "Defibrillator!"

"What? What's wrong?" Becker asked appalled, looking at the lifeless figure in his arms.

"Sir, we have to ask you to leave the bed now," the doctor told him. His voice was calm, yet tense, and Becker could sense the situation was serious.

Unwillingly, Becker got off the bed and watched how the doctors worked to save Jess' life.

They ripped her blouse open, placed the electrodes on her torso and then her body shook as the electric shock ran through it.

Becker winced at the sight of that.

Jess didn't move, though.

"Nothing," one of the doctors announced.

"Try again," doctor Melrose shouted.

Becker heard the sound of the defibrillator charging. Then Jess took another electric shock, but again, there was no reaction from her side.

"No," he whispered, without even realizing the word had really crossed his lips. It couldn't be true, it couldn't be happening. He had lost her once and brought her back – only to lose her again?

"No," he mumbled again, and a movement to his side drew his attention away from Jess' lifeless body on the hospital bed.

Slowly, he opened his eyes, realizing where he was and what had just happened.

He was still lying in the hospital bed, Jess peacefully asleep by his side. Her parents had fallen asleep on their chairs as well. It was dead silent around them, telling Becker that it was probably the middle of the night.

Connor had been the last to visit them that day. Of course, the doctors didn't like the fact that they stretched the order of 'not too many visitors at a time' to their liking. But it did Becker good to see their friends every once in a while, even though Abby was – as usual – the most encouraging company.

She never seemed to lose her good temper. She was always cheerful, assuring Becker and the rest of the team that Jess was going to make it. For her, there didn't seem to be another way.

Becker felt the movement next to him again and looked down into Jess' sleeping face. She didn't look that feverish anymore. Her skin was still pale, but her cheeks seemed to have a healthier colour.

Carefully, he reached out to feel her forehead. The fever seemed to have gone down further. At least, she didn't feel that hot anymore, and he couldn't feel any cold sweet on her forehead. That certainly was a good sign. It had to be.

She stirred again, mumbling something Becker couldn't understand.

"It's okay," he said automatically, wrapping his arms tighter around her. "You're safe."

"I know," she replied, snuggling up closer against him. "I'm always safe, as long as you're with me."

Becker frowned. She'd never before answered him like this – let alone in complete, coherent sentence.

"Jess?" he carefully asked.

"Hmmm," she muttered, reluctantly opening her eyes to look at him.

The smile on his face was so bright it could have lightened the whole ARC. "You're awake," he whispered.

"Barely," Jess objected weakly, looking around and taking in the sight of the medical bay and her parents sleeping near her bed. "What happened?"

"Your foot," he told her, gently reaching out to stroke her cheek. "It was inflamed. You had a severe form of toxaemia and for a while, the doctors weren't sure they could save your foot – or your life."

"That bad?" she whispered, pointing her head towards her parents.

Becker simply nodded, letting his thumb caress her cheek.

Jess placed her head back onto his muscular chest and closed her eyes happily – until it hit her. Her head almost shot up, and she looked at Becker suspiciously. "And you could convince the doctors _and_ my parents to let you stay in bed with me?"

He chuckled. "Actually, it was you who convinced them."

Jess frowned, giving him an expectant look.

"It was the only way to keep you calm," he explained. "One of the side effects of the toxaemia are panic attacks. From what you mumbled in your delirium, I guess you thought you were still trapped in the Early Jurassic.

"The only way to keep you from hurting yourself while trying to get out of here was some strong medication or me holding you. And doctor Melrose was glad he didn't need to give you any more sleeping pills."

"I've always felt much safer with you by my side," she whispered, and leaned in to press a soft kiss on Becker's lips.

"We shouldn't do that," he mumbled, glancing at the sleeping figure of Jess' father. "At least not here. Your father doesn't like me anyway."

"What about my mum?" Jess asked.

Becker frowned at her for a moment, and then shrugged. "I don't know. She asked me a lot of questions about my life and my work… I guess we got along quite well, given the circumstances."

Smiling, Jess placed her head back on Becker's chest and snuggled up close against him. "Then we have nothing to worry about."

"Are you sure?" he mumbled sceptically.

Jess chuckled. "It might not look like it, but my mum's definitely the one wearing the trousers."

"I understand," Becker said with a grin, wrapping both arms back around Jess protectively.

For a while, they just lay there cuddling, and Jess had almost drifted back off, when she heard his soft voice say her name.

"Jess?" he whispered, not sure whether she was already asleep.

She made a sound, telling him she was still awake.

"I really thought I was going to lose you," he whispered, gently kissing the top of her head. "Don't ever do this to me again."

"I'll try," she assured him. "I'm sorry."

"Me too," Becker mumbled.

Frowning, Jess raised her head again to look at him. "For what?"

He sighed, looking down as he let his fingers play with a strand of her hair. "I should have protected you, but I couldn't. If I had watched out for you, this wouldn't have happened."

"Are you kidding me?" she exclaimed, trying hard not to speak too loud so that she wouldn't wake her parents. "You went after me, risking your life and your job just to bring me back. From my point, you did a very nice job protecting me."

He smirked, brushing his finger over her cheek again. "I love you, Jess."

The words sounded so honest, so emotional, and so intimate, that she couldn't stop the tears from springing to her eyes. "I love you, too," she whispered, once again leaning in to kiss him – more passionately this time.

Becker wrapped both his arms around her, pulling her as close as humanly possible as he deepened the kiss. He wanted to hold her forever and never let go again.

The alert of the heart monitor startled them.

"Sorry," Jess chuckled. "I guess you made my heart race a little too much."

Becker just grinned at her, silently hoping no one had noticed the alert going off.

Jess' mother stirred a little in her sleep, but neither of her parents opened their eyes.

"Go back to sleep," he whispered, pressing another chaste kiss to her lips. "You should rest."

This time, she didn't argue. She felt incredibly tired, even though she must have been sleeping for… "Becker?" she asked again.

"Yeah?"

"How long have I been…unconscious?" she wanted to know. The last thing she remembered was the talk in Lester's office.

"Almost two days," he told her. "We were really worried about you."

"I'm sorry," she mumbled sleepily. "That's been a pretty long time."

"Yeah," he affirmed, stroking her back until she was asleep. "Too long," he mumbled before drifting off himself.


	14. Interrogation

**Title: **Interrogation

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** _Once again, I'm sorry for not posting this earlier. Thank you for hanging in there with me, nonetheless._

_I know that after Jess had woken up and everything looked fine, the story could also have been over. But I have another scene in my mind that still needs to be written. ;)_

_Hope you'll enjoy the chapter._

_Hugs,_

_Caro_

"When did she wake up?" doctor Melrose asked.

Becker frowned at him. "I honestly don't know. It was sometime in the middle of the night. At least, everyone was asleep. I didn't know if I should have called you, and she was only awake for a few minutes."

"Did she say anything?" the doctor wanted to know.

"She asked how long she had been here and…why her parents were here," Becker told them.

Dr Melrose nodded a bit absentmindedly. "I'm afraid I have to ask you to leave the bed now," he told Becker. "I have to run a few tests."

Jess made a sound of complaint. "Is that really necessary?" she mumbled sleepily.

Smiling, Dr Melrose insisted, "I'm afraid so."

Unwillingly, Jess gave up her comfortable position. Now that she was awake and on the road to recovery, they certainly wouldn't allow Becker to hold her any longer. She couldn't help but wonder if he would ever hold her again.

As long as she wasn't completely healed, he would be sweet and caring and overprotective. But what would keep him from running once she was fine? She'd seen that happen before.

"It won't take long," Dr Melrose assured her as he made her sit down in a wheel chair. "We'll do an MRI to make sure the bone wasn't affected by the inflammation and then we'll run a blood test to see how much the inflammation has gone back."

Jess watched Becker getting off the bed and snapping to attention next to it. Her parents would certainly grill him about what had been going on – not only with him and Jess but also with her disappearance and magical reappearance – if they hadn't already. She'd been unconscious for almost two days, after all.

As far as she knew Becker, he would either reply pretty monosyllabic or he wouldn't reply at all. Somehow, she wished for the former.

"So, you and my daughter," Jess heard her father ask and sighed inwardly. This wasn't going to end well.

Not knowing what exactly Jess' father expected him to say in return, Becker remained silent. It was the first time the older man talked to him at all since the day her parents had arrived. Becker had thought once her father started talking things would get better…

"I heard that…you were the one who brought her back from…wherever she was," Jess' father said.

"Yes, Sir," Becker replied reluctantly.

"I also heard that this…mission wasn't exactly authorised," the older man said.

Becker straightened, but again didn't reply.

"I take that as a yes," Jess' father mumbled. This was followed by a long silence, before Jess' father finally said, "Thank you."

Becker nodded briefly and then sighed with relief.

"Stop being such a grouch, Henry," Jess' mother scolded her husband. Then she smiled at Becker. "I've noticed that you hardly ate anything during the last few days, you must be starving. So how about we go grab some breakfast before Jess returns."

"Thanks, Ma'am, but I'm not hungry," Becker replied.

"But you have to eat something," the older woman insisted. "Jess certainly wouldn't like it if you ended up next to her in the hospital bed. Although…"

This remark only made him feel more uncomfortable to accept the invitation for breakfast. "I'd really rather stay here and wait for the results," he told her.

"This may take a while," Jess' mother said with a shrug, already trying to drag him out of the medical bay. "Don't tell me there's nowhere to get a proper breakfast near this place."

"Mrs Parker, I really…" he started.

She cut him off, friendly, but firmly, "It's Elisabeth, and you'll have breakfast with us now, young man."

He sighed. "Yes, Ma'am." Now he knew that Jess hadn't lied when she'd told him her mother was the one wearing the trousers.

"So, how long have you been working for the ARC?" Elisabeth asked as they had sat down at a table in a nearby café.

"About five years," Becker told her.

"And…how exactly did you end up…here?" she pressed him.

Becker frowned. It seemed like Jess had told her parents anything but the truth about the ARC. Okay, she couldn't tell them that they were dealing with anomalies and dinosaurs and other creatures, but… What exactly had she told them?

"Well, Jess told us that her job was rather boring," Elisabeth said with a shrug.

Only then did Becker notice that he'd actually said the question out loud.

"That's…only partly true," Becker replied.

"Yeah, after we got a call that she'd been missing in action, we kind of figured that much," Henry grumbled.

Becker shifted uncomfortably in his seat. "You know, most of the time Jess is safe in her working place. But I wouldn't call her job boring. She's a field coordinator, the best this place ever had, and…well, basically her job is to push us around."

"Us?" Elisabeth asked, raising her eyebrow at Becker.

He cleared his throat. "The soldiers," he specified. "Jess tells us where to go and how to get there, what we will be dealing with when we arrive… Stuff like that."

"But she stays _inside_ the building?" This time, it was Henry posing the question.

"Most of the time, yes," Becker affirmed. "But sometimes we need her out in the field, too."

"Like you did that day she disappeared," Elisabeth concluded.

Becker stiffened. "I'm sorry, Ma'am, but I can't tell you anything about this mission, it's classified. I can imagine you have a lot of questions, but I won't be able to answer them."

"That's okay," Elisabeth assured him with a smile. "We know that."

Becker frowned. But still they'd certainly hope they were going to get some information out of their daughter's boyfriend. God, how he hated to be in a position like this.

"And what about your family?" Elisabeth asked after breakfast. "Has Jess met them already?"

He sighed. He knew they would ask him about that eventually. "I don't have any family," he simply replied.

"Oh?" Elisabeth said with obvious surprise.

But he decided not to react to her unspoken question, and luckily, she decided to let it go.

"Maybe we should get back to the ARC and see if the doctors finished their tests," Becker suggested and stood up without waiting for a reaction from Jess' parents.

They followed him and a somewhat awkward silence spread between them. Normally, Becker wouldn't have cared. He didn't like talking. But he also wanted to leave a good first impression on Jess' parents. He didn't want them to think he was uncommunicative. Because he could be…communicative…if he really tried.

On the other hand, they knew that he had saved Jess' life and that she felt safe with him. That had to mean something, too.

When they arrived at the medical bay, they found Jess lying in her bed again, but awake.

"Hey," she greeted them, looking expectantly between Becker and her parents back and forth trying to reason something from their behaviour.

"Hey," Becker replied, repressing the urge to greet her with a kiss. "What did the doctors say?"

"Well, my foot is just fine," she announced. "Or at least it will be once the inflammation is completely healed. But, the bone isn't infected and everything looks great. My WBCs are almost back to normal and I'll probably be allowed to go home in a couple of days."

"Make that a week," Dr Melrose jumped in. "You're still very weak, Miss Parker, and you shouldn't overdo it."

"I'm feeling fine," she objected.

"Liar," Becker simply said. One look in her still much too pale face and he could tell that she felt exhausted and still was in pain.

"Okay, my foot hurts a little and I'm a bit tired, but…apart from that, I'm completely fine," she told them with a pout.

"It's good to see you on the road to recovery," Elisabeth said, pecking her daughter's cheek. "But you heard the doctor. You don't need to pretend you're fine to sooth us."

Becker had a feeling that this wasn't the reason Jess pretended to be better than she actually was and made a mental note to talk to Dr Melrose about that later.

"Now get some rest," Elisabeth told her daughter, pretty much forcing her to lie back down in her bed. "We'll check on you in a few hours."

Sighing, Jess did as she was told and crawled back under the blanket. She looked at Becker, trying to give him a smile.

He smiled back at her, as he was more or less dragged out of the room by her parents.

"And you should go home and get some rest, too, young man," Elisabeth told Becker as they had left the medical bay. "By the way, you haven't told us your first name, yet. I don't even know how to address you."

He straightened once more. He'd have known that they would ask about that, too, but somehow he'd hoped they wouldn't offer him to call them by their first names and the question wouldn't matter. "It's just Becker, Ma'am," he finally replied.

Henry frowned. "You mean you don't have a first name? Everyone has a first name."

"I forgot about mine," he mumbled, before telling them that he had some important stuff to do and bowing out.

Only ten minutes later, he entered Jess' room again, and wasn't surprised to find her still wide awake.

"Hey," he greeted, sitting down on the bed next to her. "You know, you really should get some rest."

"How did it go with my parents?" she changed the topic.

Becker sighed. "Well, they…asked about my family and my first name."

"I'm sorry," Jess said, biting her lip. "I'd have told them not to if I'd known they were ever going to meet you."

"It's okay. I managed to…change the topic…kind of." He probably shouldn't tell her that he had just run from the question about his first name, pretty much ditching her parents.

"Well, as long as my mom still likes you, I'm sure that won't be much of a problem," she said with a shrug.

"And there I'm not so sure anymore," he mumbled. Not that he would really care about that, but he knew that this was important to Jess – and she was important to him.

Jess raised an eyebrow at him. "What happened?"

"I don't know," he replied with a sigh. "I really tried to…be nice and answer all their questions in more than one words, but…I don't know."

It hadn't escaped her notice how he was opening up around her. And the fact that obviously he even wanted to try opening up around her parents, made her feel proud. She was important to him.

"Relax," she told him. "Once my mum took a shine on you, it's really hard to destroy that again. So I'm sure everything's fine."

"I hope you're right," he mumbled, and then reached out to softly stroke her hair.

"You saved my life, after all," Jess added with a smile. "I bet they won't forget about that."

He gave her an insecure smile. She still looked incredibly pale and he knew she needed to sleep. "You know, your mom is right," he softly told her. "You really should try and get some rest."

"I know," she replied with a sigh. "The thing is that…every time I close my eyes, I'm afraid I'll wake up next to a dinosaur. I know it's irrational, but I can't get rid of this fear."

"Move over," he said with a grin, already lifting the blanket to crawl underneath. "I think I might have just the right medicine for that." And he so didn't need to be asked for it.

Sighing contentedly, Jess snuggled up close against him and immediately closed her eyes. "What if the doctors won't let you stay here any longer?" she mumbled, already half asleep.

Wrapping his arms closer around her, Becker said, "Well, let them try to make me leave this bed. I'm armed, they're not."

She giggled, just seconds before drifting off into a deep and dreamless sleep.


	15. Nursing

**Title: **Nursing

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** _So, it looks like I'm getting better, doesn't it?_

_I told you about this job I hate, right? It made me sick, so I had some time to write, which was a good thing. Even better – as it turned out today – was the fact that my sickness got me fired. Because for the time being (meaning the next six months so far) I can go back to my old job. I loved the school, I loved the colleagues and I loved the pupils there. So that really is the best that could happen to me. Thanks to everyone who kept their fingers crossed for me. It was totally worth it._

_For the first time since sometime last year I'm really happy about something. _

_And now enjoy the chapter. It's some fluff, and there's certainly more to come, because I'm totally in the mood._

_Hugs,_

_Caro_

"Today?" Becker asked once more, frowning at her.

Jess sighed. "Yes, and I'm completely fine. Ask the doctors. My foot is just fine and so am I. Besides, I'm tired of the medical bay."

"I understand," he told her, his face still full of concern. "But they also said you're not allowed to put pressure on your foot yet, and if you go home, you'll certainly…"

"Relax," she softly interrupted him. "My parents are gonna stay with me for the time being." She sighed again. She'd much rather had a certain army captain around to take care of her.

"Okay, but…" He sighed, eying her bandaged foot and the wheelchair. "Are you really sure about this? Your place is not even accessible for wheelchairs, is it?"

"I'll be fine," she assured him once more. "I can use crutches. Besides, I really doubt my dad's gonna let me walk around much, anyway. He can be rather overprotective, you know."

"Yeah, I've noticed," Becker mumbled. Quite frankly, he felt like acting overprotective himself at the moment. He knew Jess, and he knew she wouldn't listen to what any doctors told her.

"Apparently, he's not the only one," Jess added with a smirk.

"You know, I…I think I might…stay with you as well," he suddenly offered.

Jess' eyes almost popped out of her head. "You mean like…taking a few days off?"

He just nodded.

"Becker, the last time you took some days off was when you were bitten by that…creature," Jess couldn't stop the shiver from running down her spine as she remembered the images she'd have to watch that day.

"I know," he mumbled. "But I…I thought you might need me… You know?"

"Would you finally stop worrying, please?" Jess begged him, sighing with frustration.

Mumbling something that was faintly reminiscent of the words "I'm sorry" Becker ran a hand over his face. Then he finally stopped pacing the room and sat down next to Jess on the bed.

"When you had disappeared through the anomaly, I really thought I'd lost you forever," he told her, his voice barely above a whisper. "And after we managed to bring you back, I almost lost you again and I…just can't help worrying about you."

Smiling, Jess tilted her head a little and whispered, "Maybe I just have to remind you that I'm still here and fine."

Smirking, Becker leaned in for a soft, lingering kiss. It might not really help him not to worry about Jess anymore, but it was definitely the best way to remind him that she was safe.

Someone clearing their throat made them jump apart. But Becker didn't even think about getting up from the bed.

"Are you ready to leave?" Henry asked in a stern voice.

"Sure," Jess told him with a nod. Her heart started beating faster. There certainly was no way her father would approve of Becker staying with her. Were they going to fight? Hopefully not.

"Well, then, let's go," Henry said, pushing the wheelchair closer to the bed.

"We won't need that thing," Becker announced, lifting Jess up.

"Wh…What?" she stuttered.

"Your place is not accessible for wheelchairs," he stated without paying attention to the death glare he got from her father. "And I know you well enough to be sure you won't use the crutches for long. I just want to make sure you follow the doctor's orders."

Grinning, Jess wrapped her arms around Becker's neck. Her father so wasn't going to like that. But if Becker didn't care, she wouldn't, either.

Jess' father snorted.

"Oh, come on, Henry," Elisabeth scolded him. "He's willing to stay with her and take care of her even though we're going to be around as well. Would you have done the same?"

"With your parents?" Henry grimaced.

"See, that's what I mean," she told him, watching how Becker carried her daughter along the corridor. "When was the last time you met a man who treated your daughter like this? Whether you like it or not, she's grown up – and she has a boyfriend who loves her and who would obviously do anything for her. What more can you ask for?"

Henry grumbled something not understandable.

Elisabeth shook her head and sighed. "Just do me a favour and try not to scare him away, will you?"

"How about I just ignore him?" he suggested with a frown.

Sighing again, Elisabeth followed Becker and Jess to their car. Her husband was incorrigibly stubborn. But maybe he would at least leave Becker alone.

Jess had known it wouldn't be easy. So far, her father had managed to scare away every boy in her life who had ever shown the least interest in her – not that there had been many she'd brought home. As a matter of fact, there hadn't been that many at all.

Luckily, Becker wasn't just some other boy. And even though he barely said a word that evening, he managed to make very clear that he wouldn't back off.

Jess' heart skipped a beat every time her father made a comment and every time Becker straightened. But nothing happened. Becker obviously wasn't willing to let Henry bring him out of his shell.

She couldn't help but wonder who would win concerning the question where Becker spent the night. Alas, he was too much of a gentleman to even bring up the matter. When Henry handed him the beddings to "get comfortable on the couch", Becker only mumbled a thanks.

And suddenly it occurred to Jess that Becker was doing all this for her. He didn't want to put up a fight with her father, because he didn't want her to have to side with one of them.

Nonetheless, she'd rather fought with her father if it had meant that Becker was allowed to hold her again. But at least he brought her to bed.

"Good night," she whispered, smiling at him. "I'll be fine."

He frowned at her, concern written all over his face. Then he leaned forward to kiss her forehead. "Good night," he replied, and then headed for the door. He turned back to her before leaving the room. "Call me, if you need anything," he told her and then bowed out.

Of course, he couldn't sleep. Not that he thought it was possible that a new anomaly opened right next to Jess' bed and she was attacked by something. She was safe and he knew that.

But he missed her. He missed the feeling of her snuggled up close against him. He missed her sweet scent being the last thing he smelled before he fell asleep and the first thing when he woke up.

Becker had just decided that he could as well watch some TV instead of just lying awake on the couch when he heard a bloodcurdling scream coming from Jess' bedroom.

In no time at all he had jumped over the backrest of the couch, headed for Jess' room and ripped the door open.

She was sitting upright in her bed, bathed in sweat, mere panic written all over her face.

Without hesitation, Becker hurried over to her and caught her in his arms. "It's okay," he whispered.

"I know," Jess replied with a nod and, as if to sooth herself, added, "It was just a bad dream."

"You're safe, sweetness," Becker replied, gently stroking her back.

It escaped Jess' notice that it was the first time Becker called her by a nickname. What didn't escape her notice was the fact that he didn't even seem to consider letting go of her.

"Are you alright?" Henry's voice startled them.

Reluctantly, Jess let go of Becker and turned to her father. "Yeah," she assured him. "It was just a bad dream, that's all."

Becker frowned at her in concern, seemingly considering his options. Finally, he lifted the blanket to crawl underneath.

"What the hell do you think you're doing?" Henry burst out.

Becker took a deep breath to keep his voice calm before turning to Jess' father. "Look. I'm not gonna do anything your daughter doesn't want. But I know that Jess won't find any sleep tonight due to the nightmares and I also know that my presence will help her. So there's no way you're gonna make me leave her alone. She's grown up. You should get used to it."

Henry opened his mouth, but was interrupted by his wife's hand on his arm. "Come on, let's go back to bed," Elisabeth told him. When she noticed he wanted to object, she quickly added, "He's right and you know that."

Henry snorted and left while Elisabeth closed the door.

Sighing with relief, Becker crawled under the blanket and finally caught Jess in his arms.

"You know, this was the first time anyone ever stood up against my dad," she whispered.

"I'm sorry," he mumbled. "I didn't mean to…"

"No," Jess quickly interrupted him, raising her head so she was looking at him. "I…I wanted to thank you. For everything. For trying to get along with my dad even though he was giving you such a hard time – and for standing up against him when you knew I needed you."

"He's not gonna scare me away," Becker assured her. "I fight dinosaurs for a living. What could he possibly do to scare me, anyway?"

She couldn't help but giggle as she snuggled up against him again. "I always knew it was a good idea to fall in love with a soldier."

This was followed by a long and somewhat awkward silence and Jess already feared she might have said something wrong, when Becker suddenly whispered, "Can I ask you something?"

"Of course," she told him, refusing to raise her head to look at him again. "Whatever you want to know."

"Why…" he started, his voice barely above a whisper. "Why did you…fall in love with me of all people?"

Her head shot up and she stared at him. "You're not implying you think you're not worth falling in love with, are you?"

"I just…wondered how… I don't know…" he stuttered. "Never mind."

She smiled warmly at him. "There are a lot of things I love about you," she told him. "You're not only hot, but also sweet and caring, even though most of the time you do your best to hide that fact. I love how I always feel safe when you're around. I love the way you smile at me sometimes, because it always makes my skin tingle. Shall I go on?"

"You mean there's more?" he asked, smirking at her.

"You can be really funny if you allow someone to get behind the wall you built up around you," she continued. "And you're not afraid of anything. I always venerated that. You're a hero, even though you'd never call yourself that because you're too humble."

"Wow," he said, brushing a strand of hair behind her ear. "I had no idea I was such a stunner."

"Well, you are," she mumbled, trying not to blush. "At least you are for me. So consider it pathetic, but I've been at your feet from the moment I've first met you and…no matter how hard I tried to resist, you made me fall more for you every single day."

Grinning, he leaned in to capture her lips with his, but stopped inches before their lips met. "I hope I'm not a terrible kisser," he whispered.

"No, you're a great kisser," she assured him. "Another fact I love about you."

"Good," he said with a smirk and closed the distance between them.

"Can I ask you something?" Jess asked voicelessly, after they'd broken the soft kiss.

He nodded.

"If…" she looked down to avoid his eyes. "If I'd never disappeared through the anomaly and if I hadn't…told you how I felt…would any of this have happened?"

Becker frowned at her. "You think I would never have made a move on you if it hadn't been for you being trapped in the Early Jurassic?" He couldn't even blame her for that. It wasn't like he'd exactly wooed her at any time.

"To be honest, I don't know," he replied truthfully. "I don't know if I'd ever dared making a move on you. I'm not really good at…this. I mean, I really didn't know how to approach you or if it was a good idea."

"What…do you mean?" she asked reluctantly.

"Well, I…I've lost so many people in my life, that at one point I've decided not to let anyone in," he admitted. "When I started working at the ARC, I soon realized this didn't work. People managed to get behind the…walls as you called it.

"I was hired to protect those people. And then first Cutter died, then Abby, Connor and Danny got trapped on the wrong side of an anomaly and then…I had to watch Sarah die. I…had failed. I hadn't been able to protect them. So I decided that with this job, it was better not to get too involved with the people I worked with."

"You didn't want to go through that again," she whispered, nodding understandingly.

"Yeah," he affirmed. "But…from the day we met I knew it would be hard with you. You were so…sweet and open and light-hearted. It was good to have someone around who…brought some light into this place – and I'm not only talking about your bright clothes."

"I…never thought this was the way you saw me," she replied with a timid smile. "I mean…I never had the impression you even…cared much about me."

"I do," he objected. "And that…scared me, even after Abby and Connor were back and I knew Danny was safe – at least as much as he could be. It's not true that there's nothing I'm afraid of. Every day I'm afraid I might lose another person I care about. That was why I didn't want to admit that I cared about you. I was too afraid to lose you."

"Like you lost Sarah?" she asked in a whisper.

Becker nodded. "It wasn't like we were actually dating, but…yeah, I cared a lot about her. And when I noticed that I started caring about you the same way, I…thought it would be best to back off. Not only because I didn't want to go through that again, but also because I thought you…deserved better."

She looked at him and frowned. "Have you ever considered that I might be willing to try and help you get over all the pain you've been through?"

"No," he admitted reluctantly. "I've…never looked at it from that perspective."

"You're always there to protect me," she whispered, leaning down to give him another soft kiss. "I might not be able to protect you the same way, but I'm definitely able and willing to chase away your nightmares whenever you need me to."

He smiled at her, leaning in to kiss her again. "After you disappeared, I realized that it doesn't help to push you away. All I could think about was that I never got a chance to tell you how I really felt about you, that I never got a chance to find out if your skin is as soft as it looks. Pushing you away didn't do any good except for keeping me from enjoying the time we might have."

"Somehow, even with our jobs, I still hope this is going to be a long time," she told him.

Becker smirked. "Yeah, me too. Now try and go back to sleep. You look exhausted."

Willingly, she snuggled up close against him, laying her head onto his chest, and closed her eyes. "Thank you," she mumbled.

"For what?" he wanted to know.

"For being so honest with me," she whispered. "For opening up."

"You made it easy for me, sweetness," he replied, kissing the top of her head.

This time, she noticed the nickname. Her head shot up again and she stared at him.

"What?" he asked a little insecurely.

"You…never called me by a nickname before," she stated.

"I…sorry…" he stuttered. "Um…Do you mind?"

Grinning, she shook her head no. "Does that mean I'm allowed to come up with a nickname for you, too?"

"Um…Sure," he replied. But the look on her face before she placed her head back onto his chest made him question whether this was a wise decision.


	16. Yearning

**Title: **Yearning

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN:** _Sorry this took me forever – once again. I just couldn't seem to get the last part right. You know the times when you're singing the blues and your muse just doesn't like it and disappears? I feel like that's what recently happening to me. But I won't stop coaxing her to come back._

_Now I hope you enjoy this chapter._

Becker went on being a complete angel for the next days. He was carrying her around all day long and treated her like she was the only person in the world that mattered to him. And the best thing about all this was that after Becker's little fight with her father, there was no discussion anymore about where Becker spent the nights. He was spending them with her.

The only snag about all this was that she couldn't have Becker all to herself. Even though she had started physiotherapy two days ago and was allowed to use her foot again, her parents still wanted to stay to help her.

Also, Becker kept carrying her around most of the time. She had given up on telling him or her parents that she was fine. As a matter of fact, she could get used to Becker treating her like that.

What she couldn't get used to was the fact that their relationship seemed to be stagnating. Of course, Becker spent the nights with her, cuddling as close as humanly possible, but that was about it. Not that she minded cuddling with him, but they'd been together for almost two weeks now and she felt that it was time for…well, more.

Every night Becker brought her to bed and then stripped down to his boxers right in front of her before crawling under the blanket himself and catching her in his arms. Every night her heartbeat went sky-high when she watched him undress. And snuggling up close to him while he was almost naked didn't help in calming her heart down.

Every night nothing happened except for some kissing and cuddling. In fact, Becker only kissed her when her parents weren't around. She couldn't help but wonder if they were the reason there wasn't anything more going on between them or if it was the fact that she'd been injured.

Or maybe he regretted what had happened between them. But he certainly wouldn't treat her like that if he did.

So, most of the nights she was lying next to Becker wondering if she should just ask him about it. Or maybe she should just…show him she wanted him.

So one night, Jess slightly turned her head to place a chaste kiss onto his chest.

He didn't react.

Taking a deep breath, Jess repeated her attempt to take their relationship to the next step.

"Jess, what do you think you're doing?" his deep voice interrupted the silence.

She raised her head to look up at him. "I just… We've been together for quite some time now and I thought that…" she stuttered.

Cupping her cheek with one hand, Becker told her in all seriousness, "As much as I'd love to let you continue, I really don't think we should do that with your parents next door."

She blushed slightly. "Well…I thought, we…we could be quiet."

"True," he said with a smirk. "But when we do this I absolutely don't want you to be quiet."

"Oh," she mumbled, blushing an even deeper shade of red.

Now grinning mischievously, Becker leaned closer to whisper into her ear, "Your dad already hates me enough. There's no way I'm gonna let him hear you scream my name over and over again."

"Boaster," she mumbled, causing him to chuckle. "You know, I love my parents," she stated with a sigh as she placed her head back on his chest. "But right now I really wish they were somewhere else."

"I promise this will happen as soon as your parents grant us some hours to ourselves," he whispered, letting his hand run up and down her spine. "And I'm very much looking forward to it."

"Okay," she mumbled, taking a deep breath. She felt disappointed but at the same time relieved. At least she'd found out that the reason for his demureness were her parents and not the fact he didn't want her anymore.

It still didn't help her find much sleep, though. Becker's comment had only fuelled her yearning to get some time alone with him, and he certainly knew that. He wanted to spend some _hours_ with her. The thought of that made her feel aroused and a bit apprehensive due to her massive lack of experience. But she wanted to fill that gap.

Of course, she knew that Becker was right. Heaven forbid her parents would hear them! Okay, her mom would certainly ignore it, but her dad would kill them. Not to mention the fact that it would be the most embarrassing situation she could think of.

As if her parents constantly nagging her about their relationship wasn't embarrassing enough already… Especially her father obviously couldn't stop bringing up the matter and asking compromising questions.

The next day wasn't any different – and suddenly Jess was glad Becker had talked her out of spending their first night together with her parents next door.

The conversation started harmlessly, as usual. But Jess knew what was about to come.

"So, you're still having nightmares?" her father asked while her mother was preparing breakfast.

"Yeah," Jess affirmed. "I know that it's stupid, but sometimes I still feel like I'm back…there."

"Wherever that was," he grumbled.

"I can't tell you," she repeated for what felt like the thousandth time. "But trust me, it's not a place you'd want to see. It's dangerous and…"

"Then what were you doing there anyway?" he pressed her.

"It was…an accident," she told him. "I…I can't tell you more, I'm sorry."

"But you feel better when…Captain Becker is around," he changed the topic.

Jess sighed. Why did her father always have to bring up that matter when Becker was in the shower and therefore not around? "He saved my life," she replied. _More than once._

"That's why you love him?" Henry asked with a grumble.

"No, that's why I feel safe with him," Jess objected a bit angrily. "There're many reasons why I love him. You'd understand if you knew him."

"I'm just saying," Henry insisted, defensively raising his hands. "What do you even know about him?"

"I know enough about him to be sure that he would never hurt me," Jess told him impatiently. "I know that he risked his life and his job just to save me. And he would do it again if necessary."

"Do you even know his first name?" Henry insisted.

"Yes, I do," she replied. "And before you ask, no, I've never met his family and I certainly never will. But that's fine with me, because I can accept if he doesn't want to talk about it."

"Maybe he's married," he said with a shrug.

Jess snorted. "Yeah, dad, he surely is."

"Well, how do you know that if he never talks about his family?" Henry pointed out.

Sighing once more, Jess replied, "He's been working for our agency for almost five years now. Don't you think someone would have noticed something if he was a marriage impostor?"

"I just don't want you to get hurt, that's all," he mumbled, his voice somewhere between angry and disappointed.

"I know that," Jess said, taking a deep breath to calm down.

"He's a soldier," Henry went on. "You should be aware of that."

Eying him suspiciously, Jess assured him, "I _am_ aware of that."

"Well, what I want to say is that… They're not exactly the family kind of guys, you know, they're more…"

"What?" Jess harshly interrupted him. "Dad, I'm grown up and I'm not naïve. I know that there are bad guys out there, but I also know that Becker isn't one of them."

"Are you really sure?" he asked, frowning at her. "A guy who doesn't even talk about his own family… How do you know he can think of starting a family with you? I mean, what if he gets you pregnant?"

"Dad!"

"Then I'm going to ask her to marry me," Becker's deep voice said as he entered the kitchen.

For a moment, it was dead silent in the room. Jess wondered how much of the conversation Becker had actually heard.

Henry just stared at Becker who held his gaze.

"I'm not playing with Jess," the latter said after a while. "There might be a few things I don't like to talk about, but that doesn't mean I have a lot of dark secrets. The reason I don't talk about my family is that they're dead. So, technically, I don't have a family to talk about."

This was followed by silence again.

Taking a deep breath, Becker continued, "My mother died of cancer when I was six. She's been sick ever since I was born, so I don't have any siblings. My father was a soldier, just like myself, and he was a family guy. He took good care of me, despite the fact that he had to leave the country every once in a while. Six years ago he died in an ambush in Afghanistan."

Jess looked down on the verge of tears. Why couldn't her dad for once in her life simply accept her decision and let it go? He would scare Becker away sooner or later, she knew that.

Elisabeth was the first to break the silence. She stepped towards Becker to hug him and whispered, "I'm so sorry."

Becker stiffened slightly, but returned the embrace nonetheless. "Thank you, Ma'am."

"It's Elisabeth," she scolded him.

He nodded briefly, and then said, "My first name is Hilary. I honestly don't know how my parents came up with that name, I never asked them. And except for them no one ever used that name so if you don't mind, I would prefer to be called Becker."

"Sure," Elisabeth replied. "But I might use your first name every time you call me Ma'am."

Becker just smirked at that.

Jess sighed with relief. At least her mother really liked him – and Becker did his best to leave a good impression on her parents. She couldn't help but love him even more for that.

"Sir, I'm not trying to take your daughter away from you," Becker finally said, turning back to Henry. "But I'm not backing off, either. I have no intention to hurt Jess. I love her, and I will fight for her if necessary, even if that means I have to fight with you."

Jess almost couldn't repress a squeal. He wanted to fight for her. So, there really didn't seem to be a way her dad would scare him away.

As if to prove his words, Becker sat down next to Jess on the table and greeted her with a soft kiss, making her heart leap with joy.

He was kissing her in front of her parents now.

Henry snorted and sat down opposite the table. "You know, no one ever called me "Sir". I never served. When I was old enough, conscription was already abolished."

Elisabeth smiled when she sat down at the table herself. "That's his way of telling you to call him Henry," she told Becker.

Henry snorted once more.

Becker smirked slightly and reached for the pancakes. For the first time in his life he had really opened up to someone – and for the first time in his life he didn't feel like a complete stranger.

Moreover, for the first time in ages Jess's parents were neither nagging him about his family or his past nor making any comments about their relationship. It was a normal breakfast, some small talk, some laughter – and no more of the subtle tension that had always been between them.

"So, what did the physiotherapist say?" Elisabeth wanted to know when they sat down in Jess's living room.

Jess shrugged. "My foot is healing properly," she replied. "I'm allowed to try and use it again, but I still have to take things slow because after the time it took the wound to heal, the muscles have flagged. But it's just a matter of days until I'm cleared to go back to work."

"You should take it easy," Becker immediately objected. Receiving a death glare from Jess, he mumbled, "I'm just saying."

Elisabeth smiled warmly. "It's good to hear you're getting better, but I think Becker is right. You shouldn't overdo it."

Jess rolled her eyes. Her parents had stopped hating Becker only minutes ago and it already felt like they were ganging up against her.

"Look, I promise I won't do anything more than my physiotherapist sais I can do," she told her mother with a sigh. "But once I'm cleared to go back to work, there's nothing that can keep me from doing so."

"I understand that," Elisabeth assured her.

Becker knew that it was better to remain silent. Jess understood why everyone was worried about her – and he understood that she couldn't stand it any longer.

"But you need proof that I'm fine," Jess mumbled. "Okay, how about I do the shopping? We're out of milk." When she realized her mother was about to object, she quickly added, "Becker can accompany me and make sure I don't…overdo it."

Not to mention that she might get the chance to drag him into the next best hotel for some making-out.

Becker considered objecting, but reconsidered it when he realized that Jess was just trying to buy them some alone-time.

"You know, I've got a better idea," Elisabeth replied with a smile. "Why don't you two stay here and your father and I go do the shopping."

Jess opened her mouth, but closed it again, not sure what to say to that.

"The physiotherapy must have been exhausting enough for today," Elisabeth told her, already getting up. "Your father and I are going to do the shopping, you'll stay here and rest. Period."

Jess watched in awe how her mother pretty much dragged her father out of the apartment and closed the door behind them. Was it just her or had her mother just made it possible for her to spend some time _alone_ with Becker?!

Did her mother know that was what Jess had been yearning for? Did she know how Jess intended to spend the time her parents were away? Oh, well, who cared?

Grinning mischievously, Jess turned towards Becker, climbing on his lap and claiming his lips with hers.

"What…are…you…?" he stuttered, taken aback by the sudden attack.

"My parents will be gone for at least an hour," she whispered, her hands sliding under his shirt. "And I so know how I want to spend the time."


	17. Resolutions

**Title: **Resolutions

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN: **_Sorry this took me so long again. My life was pretty much turned upside down lately. Besides, this time last year my dad died all of a sudden and so for a couple of days I've been somehow feeling blue, if you know what I mean._

_Anyway, I'll keep trying to get better and update sooner. I hope you like the chapter and consider it worth the wait._

_Hugs,_

_Caro_

"This was definitely the most amazing experience I ever had," Jess whispered, snuggling up closer against him. "I can't believe we waited that long to finally do this."

Becker chuckled, letting his hand gently run up and down her bare arm. "It was worth the wait, don't you think?"

"Absolutely," she affirmed. "Still I'd rather not wait that long before we repeat this."

"Well, since your mother seems to be on our side, maybe we can convince her to grant us some alone-time again in the not too distant future," he said, gently kissing her hair. "If not, maybe we can sneak out and get a motel room."

She giggled at that. But she had to admit the thought was tempting. "Speaking of that, we should probably get up," she mumbled with a sigh. "My parents won't be gone forever."

"And you have a problem with them finding us naked in your bed?" he asked, raising both his eyebrows at her in mocked disbelief.

"I don't know, actually I'd love to see how you put your words into action and fight with my father," she replied with a mischievous grin.

"Oh, really, Miss Parker?" he asked, his voice threatening, and whirled them around so that he was lying on top of her. "So you love to see me fight, yeah? Does that turn you on?"

God, she really wished she could come up with something witty to reply. Unfortunately, her brain had decided to switch off the moment his incredibly hot and still very naked body had pinned her down to her sheets.

"Becker…we…we…shouldn't," she stuttered, her eyes fluttering shut.

He leaned down to breathe in her ear, "You want me to stop?"

"I…we…oh, my God."

He smiled triumphantly. Only one night – or well, one morning – and he already knew how to make all thoughts disappear from her mind.

"We…should…be…taking a shower," Jess managed to pant – despite the fact that her body absolutely didn't want him stop, she knew they had to.

He stopped, drawing a sound of complaint from her. Then he got up from the bed.

Jess sighed. Yeah, sure, they should take a shower and get ready before her parents returned, but…couldn't he at least have finished this first?

Grinning lecherously, Becker grabbed her hand and pulled her to her feet.

"What are you doing?" she shrieked when he scooped her up in his arms.

"You suggested a shower," he replied with a grin. "And I totally think that's a great idea."

Jess opened her mouth to tell him that sharing the shower hadn't been what she'd wanted to imply, but reconsidered. She absolutely had no intention to complain about whatever he might have in mind doing in her shower.

"This way, we can save some time," he whispered, when he set her to her feet and turned on the hot water. Grinning, he leaned down for another breath-taking kiss.

Jess moaned softly and closed her eyes. She wasn't sure saving time was what she wanted to do right now.

Slowly kissing his way down her body, Becker smiled when she winced. He'd just found out that she was pretty ticklish – and he'd found out how arousing that could be.

Suddenly, they both jumped when they heard the doorbell.

"Crap," Becker mumbled, getting up again. "You finish the shower. I take care of whoever dares interrupting this."

"Leave them alive," she called after him.

Grumbling something, Becker stomped towards Jess's front door, picking up his trousers on the way and slipping them on. He pretty much ripped the door open ready to punch the delivery man or agent he expected – and raised an eyebrow in surprise.

"Hey," Abby greeted. "I…um…Is it inconvenient?"

"Well, um…no. Come in," Becker replied, stepping aside so that Abby could enter.

"I just wanted to see how our favourite field coordinator was doing," she replied, searching the living room, but finding it empty.

"Jess is…she's taking a shower," Becker explained.

Seeing his damp hair, Abby's eyes widened. "Oh, my God, this _is_ inconvenient. You know, I…I'll just…come back later."

"No, it's okay," Becker assured her, silently offering her to take a seat on the couch. "Jess's parents will come back in a minute, anyway. And we probably shouldn't be in the shower together when they do."

Abby smirked and sat down on the large couch. "So, I guess this means she's on the road to full recovery."

"I am," Jess answered instead, walking towards Abby to hug her friend. "Actually, I'm pretty great."

"Yeah, I heard that," Abby told her, grinning widely when Jess blushed.

"Can I get you anything?" Becker asked to change the topic. "Coffee?"

Abby nodded, and Becker disappeared in the kitchen.

"It's really nice to see you," Jess told her, basically to keep Abby from asking questions. "And it's nice to know how much you all care about me."

"Please, tell me you're coming back to work soon," Abby begged with a sigh. "Your replacement is…so… I swear, I'm going to kill him if I have to endure this any longer."

"That bad, huh?" Jess asked. Somehow, it made her feel proud that obviously she really couldn't be replaced that easily.

"Yesterday, he managed to lead us to Hillingdon in search for an anomaly that was in Croydon," Abby told her, rolling her eyes. "He 'somehow' got the coordinates wrong."

"Well, you certainly won't have to bear this much longer," Jess replied with a smile. "My physiotherapist says I'm doing great, so I hope I'll be cleared to go back to work soon."

"That's wonderful," Abby said, sighing with relief. "You really got us worried your foot might not heal as well as we were hoping."

"Actually, it's healing even better than I was hoping," she told Abby with a wide grin, showing her foot that was no longer bandaged. "Besides, with all the care I get here, it's only a matter of days till I'm gonna be my good old self again."

_Wrong topic!_

Abby grinned mischievously. "Yeah, I bet _someone_ is doing his best to make you feel as good as possible."

"Yeah, Becker is a complete angel," Jess replied, hoping to be able to change the topic back into another direction. "You see, he even makes coffee."

"Oh, come on, don't evade the topic," Abby scolded, moving a little closer and lowering her voice. "What was it like?"

"I…well…" Jess stuttered, blushing a deep shade of red.

Abby frowned. "What? It wasn't good?"

"It was perfect," she whispered, and then sighed.

Abby grinned at the statement, but soon found herself frowning again when she noticed the rather sad expression on Jess's face. "What's wrong?"

Jess sighed once more. "This is…just too good to be true," she answered in a low voice. "I mean, Becker is so…perfect. I… Every day I find myself falling more for him."

Abby gave her a comforting smile. "But what's wrong with perfect?"

"What's wrong is that I'm…addicted to him," she replied. "I really can't find another word to describe how I feel. It's like my whole existence only revolves around him."

"You're in love," Abby stated with a smirk. "So I guess what you're feeling is pretty normal."

"But…what if this doesn't work out?" Jess whispered.

Abby frowned. So this was the crux of the matter.

"If this doesn't work and…we break up," she added. "I don't think I'm ever going to survive this."

"Then we have to make this work," she suddenly heard Becker's deep voice behind her.

If only the ground could open and swallow her right away. If only they'd left her behind on the wrong side of the anomaly. This certainly couldn't get any more embarrassing.

Handing each Abby and Jess a cup of coffee, Becker sat down next to the latter, gently taking her hand in his.

"I…I didn't mean," she started to mumble, but stopped when Becker squeezed her hand.

"You know, what I said to your father earlier," Becker told her, locking eyes with her so that she could see he was telling the truth. "I meant it."

"I know," she assured him.

Frowning a little, Becker took the cup from her so that he could take both her hands in his. "I'm serious, Jess," he told her. "I can very well imagine having a family with you one day."

Her head shot up and she stared at him for a second, her eyes filling with tears. "Really?" she whispered.

"Really," he affirmed, and as if to prove his words, he leaned forward to give her a soft, lingering kiss.

Jess sighed, and immediately melted into this kiss. He was saying all this in front of Abby, even kissing her in front of Abby. He didn't mind kissing her in front of anyone. Yeah, maybe this really could work.

"I love you, Jess," he whispered when he pulled back. "Don't you ever forget about that!"

"This is certainly the sweetest thing I ever heard you say to anyone," Abby commented.

"This is certainly the sweetest thing I ever said to anyone," Becker replied, drawing his gaze from Jess to glare at Abby. "And I'm gonna push you through the next anomaly if you tell anyone."

She couldn't help but giggle.

"That reminds me of the fact that you still haven't told us why you really came here," Becker said, raising an eyebrow at the blonde. "It wasn't just to check on Jess, was it?"

"Well, I…no, it wasn't," she affirmed. "You know, Connor and I have been thinking about…the current situation."

Jess frowned. She wasn't exactly sure she understood what the 'current situation' was supposed to be.

"You know, it's been a great couple of months we spent here with you," Abby assured her. "And we really enjoyed living with you, but…we both agreed that maybe it was time to…start looking for something on our own."

"You mean you want to move out?" Jess asked.

"Yeah, we…started looking for our own apartment," Abby said with a nod. "Don't get me wrong, we would also love to stay with you, but…well, maybe you need the space more often in the future. I mean, this way, we wouldn't have to stay at a hotel every time you have some…visitors."

When she saw Abby glancing at Becker, she realized what this was about. They wanted to clear the path in for Becker.

"So…um…what do you say?" Abby asked when Jess didn't react.

"Well, I… I think it's sad that you move out," she replied honestly. "But I understand why you want to do it. And I…I think it's not the worst idea."

"Good," Abby said, sighing with relief and smiling at her friend. "I'm glad we agree on that. You know, we…we thought that once you're back at your feet, maybe you could help us find something."

"Sure," Jess agreed happily. "I'm the master of finding fancy places."

"Yeah, I had a feeling you'd say that," Abby replied with a giggle.

They chatted for a few more minutes until they were interrupted by the door being opened.

"Oh, you have a guest," Elisabeth stated when she spotted Abby in the living room. "Good thing we bought enough pasta."

"I… Actually, I was about to go," Abby told her. "I just wanted to make sure Jess is fine."

"You know, it's really nice to see how much you all care about her," Elisabeth said with a warm smile.

Abby decided it was a good moment to bow out, but she had to promise Jess to come back with Connor the next day so that they could start looking for a new apartment.

"Can I help you with anything?" Jess asked when she realized her mother was starting to prepare lunch.

"No, thanks, honey," Elisabeth put her off. "You go and rest a little. Your father can help me. This way, he won't get out of practice."

Henry grumbled something, but resigned to his fate.

Giggling softly, Jess sat back down on the couch, snuggling up to Becker again, who happily put an arm around her.

"Are you sad that Connor and Abby move out?" he asked carefully.

"I don't know," Jess replied. "I mean, of course, I'm sad, but…I also think it's…a good idea. I mean…well…you've spent quite some time here lately and I really hope this won't change anytime soon…so…"

"Well, your place is much bigger than mine and much more comfortable," he said with a chuckle. "Besides, the company is much more pleasant."

Her head shot up and she eyed him up. "You got company in your apartment?"

"Yeah, a bunch of spiders and ants," he replied, kissing the top of her nose. "No need to be jealous. Besides, I'm more keen on being here with you."

"Good," she mumbled. "This means there'll be the time when I can dare ask you to move in here with me."

"Most definitely, sweetness," he whispered, kissing the top of her head again.

She smiled. There was the nickname again. Her whole life long, Jess had hated it if people referred to her as sweet. She wanted to be respected, not sweet. Sweet was equivalent to ridiculous.

But she could absolutely get used to Becker calling her sweetness. Which reminded her that he had allowed her to come up with a nickname for him.

"I'm glad to hear that, Lionheart," she replied with a devious grin.

"What was that?" he wanted to know.

"What was what?" Jess asked innocently.

Becker frowned at her. "What did you just call me?"

"Lionheart," she repeated with a giggle. Seeing the frown on his face become deeper, she added, "You have the heart of a lion, don't deny that. You're probably the bravest man I ever met and you would risk your life for the people you care about without even blinking. You risked your life for me."

He grimaced, but wrapped his arms around her nonetheless. "I still think you should try to come up with another nickname," he stated, even though he couldn't help but smile at her choice.


	18. Planning

**Title: **Planning

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN: **_I know, it's been a ridiculously long time again. Somehow, my muse wasn't in the mood to write anything. Or maybe she just wasn't in the mood to write what I wanted her to write. _

_Anyway, here finally is another chapter. I really hope you'll like it. It would certainly also have been a good chapter to finish the story, but my muse still has some plans. I just hope she'll let me put them into action, too._

_Hugs, and take care, and of course, enjoy!_

_Caro_

"You know, I think it's time for us to go back home," Elisabeth whispered.

"I don't know," Henry mumbled. "She might need us."

"She is just fine," Elisabeth told him. "Look at them. She's got someone to take care of her. There's no need for us to…stay." She'd wanted to say 'keep standing in the way', but reconsidered it. Henry still wasn't too pleased with the thought of his daughter and Captain Becker being more than just colleagues.

Henry eyed the scene in front of them. Becker was lying on his back on the large couch in the living room, and Jess was snuggled up close against him. Elisabeth had found them fast asleep when she'd wanted to call them for lunch.

Sighing, Henry decided that it was time to give in. "You're probably right," he said.

Elisabeth turned her head to give her husband a surprised look.

"He stood by her no matter what a hard time I gave him," Henry said with a slight grumble. "He kept being nice to us no matter how much I tried to draw him out. He's not going to give up on her. I guess that means he really loves her."

"See, that's why I married you," Elisabeth replied with a soft giggle, before kissing his cheek. "Because of your wisdom – and your ability to admit your mistakes."

"Why do I have the feeling that you're making fun of me?" he asked with a frown.

"Let's just be happy for our daughter that she finally found someone who loves her as much as we love each other," she whispered, before kissing him.

"Still, we should wake them up, don't you think?" Henry mumbled.

Elisabeth just grinned at that. He obviously couldn't stand seeing his daughter so close to a man. But he had a point. Jess needed to eat – and the pasta was getting cold.

Carefully, Elisabeth reached out to touch her daughter's shoulder – and was suddenly interrupted by a firm grip around her wrist, making her gasp in surprise.

Becker opened his eyes to give her a puzzled look, before letting go of her arm and mumbling, "Sorry, army training."

"Well, it's good to know that obviously you can keep our daughter safe even when you're asleep," Elisabeth commented with a wink.

Becker smiled wryly.

"Lunch is ready," Elisabeth told him, leaving it to him to wake up Jess.

Becker carefully reached out to brush Jess's cheek.

She stirred, mumbled something not understandable and then reluctantly opened her eyes. Smiling up at him, she whispered, "Hey."

"Hey," Becker greeted back, resisting the urge to kiss her while her father was still watching. "Lunch is ready."

"Oh, great," she replied, leaning up to peck his lips. "I'm starving."

Becker wanted to comment on that, but reconsidered it and just smiled at her.

When Jess got up, she was surprised to find her father standing in front of the couch. "Are we going to eat in the kitchen?" she asked, basically so that he stopped staring at them.

"Yeah," he told her with a nod. "Your mom made her famous pasta."

"I love mom's pasta," Jess commented happily, nudging Becker. "You have to try it, it's the best pasta you'll ever get in your whole life."

"You're exaggerating," Elisabeth called from the kitchen. "Now come on, the pasta's getting cold."

"My mom's just modest," Jess whispered, winking at Becker.

He couldn't help but smile as Jess dragged him towards the kitchen. He'd always found her cheerful nature quite contagious, even though he'd never have admitted it.

"You know, your father and I have decided to fly back home tomorrow," Elisabeth told them halfway through their lunch.

Jess almost let her fork drop as her head shot up. "Really?" she asked, clearing her throat immediately. "I mean, you…you said you'd stay until I was cleared to go back to work."

"Yes, but we came to the conclusion that you already have someone to take care of you," she replied with a look at Becker. "You really don't need us here."

"That's not true," Jess quickly objected. "I mean…"

"It's okay, honey," Elisabeth interrupted her. "You're grown up and you can stand on your own two feet. And if you can't, you've got someone to carry you around."

This was followed by a long silence. Jess didn't know what to say. Of course, she was excited about the prospect of having Becker all to herself, but she didn't want to snub her parents.

"You know, I doubt I'll be able to cook such pasta for her," Becker commented, basically to break the silence.

Elisabeth giggled softly. "I can give you the recipe."

"Besides, my daughter is very capable of cooking good pasta," Henry told him with a slight grumble.

"Yeah, I know," Becker replied.

"Really?" Henry and Jess said simultaneously.

Becker frowned at her. "You cooked pasta for Abby's and Connor's welcome back party. And it was just as delicious as your mom's is, if I may say so."

"That was…almost three years ago," she mumbled, clearly flabbergasted. "I can't believe you remember that."

He just smiled at her. It certainly wasn't the moment to tell her that he remembered everything she ever did, or said, or wore to work.

Elisabeth gave her husband a knowing look – and for the first time since he'd found out about his daughter seeing someone, she thought she saw something like a smile on Henry's face.

"But of course, we totally expect you to visit us for my birthday," Elisabeth told them. Looking at Becker, she added, "Both of you."

He just nodded and gave her a small smile. He wasn't sure he entirely liked the idea of visiting Jess' parents in the near future. It was one thing being at her place with them – but visiting them at their home seemed entirely different. Would they even allow them to share a room?

Besides, it had been a very long time since Becker had had something like a family. His friends were the only family he'd known for years. He wasn't sure he was ready to be welcomed to another family yet.

"Well, only if it fits your schedule," Elisabeth added, when she noticed Becker didn't seem all too comfortable about her invitation.

He looked at Jess and then back at her mother. "It will," he promised with a smile. There simply was no way he let Jess think he wasn't serious enough to visit her parents with her.

"Great," Jess quipped. "I can show you where Dad taught me how to catch a fish. I never caught one, though."

"Yeah, that's because you're too impatient," Henry said with a smirk.

Jess just snorted slightly, before turning to Becker. "Do you like fishing?"

"Well, it's been a while," he admitted. "My Dad took me fishing when I was a kid. It was always special because it was something we did together. So, yeah, I think I like fishing."

"What about camping?" Jess asked.

He turned to raise an eyebrow at her. "You don't seem like the camping kind of girl."

"Oh, I hate camping," she said, rolling her eyes. "I had to go anyway, though."

Becker chuckled. "Well, I'm a soldier. I can almost sleep anywhere. So, I don't mind camping, but I wouldn't say it's my favourite pastime, either."

"Thank goodness," Jess mumbled. "Even though I'm sure you could keep all the nasty animals away."

"That really is your problem with camping?" Becker asked, laughing. "And I thought it was the fact that you don't have a computer out there."

"I could take my computer with me," she argued. "The battery lasts at least twenty-four hours – twice as long if I take the extra battery with me – and if there's a radio mast nearby, I'll even have internet."

Becker just chuckled.

"What?" Jess asked a little irked.

"Only you would plan on taking your computer to a camping trip, that's all," he told her.

Jess pouted. "I really doubt that."

"You're right, Connor would surely take his computer as well," Becker replied.

Suddenly, Jess face lit up considerably. "That's it. We should ask Abby and Connor if they would join us on our camping trip."

"I didn't know we were planning to go on one," Becker mumbled, but Jess obviously decided to ignore his comment.

"Just let me know in time how many people you're going to bring with you so that I can buy enough food," Elisabeth joked, making her daughter blush slightly.

Becker smiled at the woman next to him. Maybe a camping trip really wasn't such a bad idea – even though he wasn't sure he really wanted to take Connor and Abby with them.


	19. Worries

**Title: **Worries

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN: **_Hey there! Believe it or not, I did it! I managed to finish another chapter before the end of the year 2013! Yay, go me!_

_Okay, all joking aside. I'm wishing everyone a happy, successful, healthy and joyful New Year 2014! And I really hope you'll enjoy this chapter._

_Hugs,_

_Caro_

When Becker woke up that night, he was surprised to find the bed next to him empty. It was only past midnight, and since they'd used their first night alone in Jess' apartment pretty well, she surely wasn't up yet.

Maybe that morning, the doctors had told her something she hadn't wanted to hear. She didn't seem upset, but she seemed a little quiet for her usual nature.

Becker stood up and went to the bathroom, finding it empty. He tried the living room, but it was empty as well. When he searched for his cell to try hers, he saw a figure standing on the balcony.

Carefully, he opened the door and stepped outside. "Hey," he whispered.

Jess quickly wiped her face. "Hey," she replied, without looking at him.

Was she crying? Why? Were there such bad news?

"What's wrong, Jess?" Becker wanted to know, walking over and catching her in his arms.

"It's nothing," she sniffled. "It's…certainly stupid."

"What is it?" he pressed her. "Did the doctors say something you didn't want to hear?"

"They said I was cleared to go back to work next week," she replied quietly.

"Well, that's great," he said, trying to look at her. "Isn't it?"

"It is," she affirmed, sniffling once more.

Becker sighed. He was pretty much at his wit's end. "But?"

Jess just shrugged.

Running a hand over his head, Becker tried to figure out what that meant. Jess was going back to work. They both were. They were going back to their normal lives, the lives they'd had before Jess had disappeared – and before…

He sighed once more. "You think things between us will change when we go back to work."

"I don't know," she whispered. "Will they?"

"Hey," he said, putting a hand under her chin to make her look up at him. "Why would anything change? I mean, you're not afraid I want to keep our relationship a secret, are you?"

She didn't say anything in return, just shrugged.

Becker chuckled. "Connor and Abby know, and so do Matt and Emily. So, by now, the whole ARC knows about us anyway."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Jess replied quietly.

"If I'd really wanted to keep our relationship a secret, I hadn't kissed you right in front of them," Becker added with a smirk, leaning down to capture her lips with his again.

Sighing, Jess melted into his touch, letting her fingernails run over his neck.

Moaning, Becker mumbled against her lips, "Now come back to bed, before we scandalize your neighbourhood."

She giggled, before grabbing his hand and pulling him back inside her apartment. Maybe some things would change once they went back to work. They probably wouldn't have that much time for each other anymore. Maybe they wouldn't even manage to be home every evening. Maybe Becker wouldn't spend that much time at her place anymore.

But one thing was for sure: Nothing would change between them. Becker made every effort to assure her of that.

"I'm sorry," Jess mumbled much later that night. "I should have known better than to think you wouldn't…you know?"

"I can't blame you," Becker whispered, letting his hand run over her bare back. "I didn't exactly shout it from the rooftops that I'm in love with you. It took me long enough to admit my feelings for you, and I'm not planning on backing off now."

"Good to know," Jess replied, smiling against his chest. "Because I absolutely want to wake up next to you for the rest of my life."

When Becker didn't say anything in return, Jess lifted her head to look up at him. "Can you really imagine that? Spending the rest of your life with me, I mean."

"Absolutely," he assured her, smiling.

"And…" Jess looked down, biting her lip for a moment before she continued. "Can you think of…moving in here with me? Some day, I mean…"

"I don't know," he mumbled, pecking her cheek. "I'd rather…look for something new, you know? Something that won't be your place or mine, but ours."

Her head shot up and she stared at him for a second. "Really?"

"You…don't like the idea?" Becker guessed.

"I do," Jess hurried to assure him. "It's just…I…I love the idea."

"You didn't think I would consider moving in together," he smiled, playing with a strand of her hair. "To be honest, I didn't. But practically living with you for the last couple of weeks made me realize that this _is_ what I want."

"And there I really thought I would scare you off," Jess teased. Or at least she'd thought her father would…

"I had to spend two weeks without you," Becker whispered, gently stroking her cheek with his index finger. "Those were the longest two weeks of my whole life, and they made me realize I didn't want to spend a single day without you anymore. So don't think you're going to get rid of me anytime soon."

"Good," Jess whispered, smiling at him and leaning down to kiss him again. "Because I'm not planning on letting you go, ever."

Grinning, Becker turned them around so that he was lying on top of her again.

"You're oversexed, you know that?" Jess panted, her eyes fluttering shut.

"Do you mind?" he asked with a smirk.

She couldn't reply other than slightly shaking her head. She was already too wrapped up in the things Becker made her feel. Only a few months ago Jess would never have thought this would happen between her and Becker _at all_ – and now he didn't seem to get enough of her. Somehow, this made her feel proud.

"You definitely know how to conjure a smile on my face," Jess told him with a sigh as she snuggled up close against him again.

"Ditto," he mumbled. "And you know how to wear me out."

She couldn't help but giggle. "And there I thought soldiers had a good endurance."

"Funny," Becker replied, nudging her side. "Remind me to show you that I can wear you out easily as well."

"Can't wait," she whispered, already half asleep.

Bucker chuckled as he wrapped his arms closer around her. He had to admit, he hadn't felt that good in a very long time. As a matter of fact, he couldn't remember when he'd last felt that good. He was…happy.

For the first time since he could remember, he fell asleep with a contented smile on his face – only to be rudely awoken by the ringing of Jess' doorbell.

"You know, when we start looking for something," he said with a grumble, "make it something far away and secluded."

Jess giggled, glancing at the alarm clock next to her bed. It was already past ten. "Wow," she mumbled. "You know, I never knew what a sleepless night could really be like."

Becker chuckled when he put on his trousers. "Prepare for many sleepless nights in the not too distant future," he told her, leaning down to peck her lips. "Go back to sleep."

"This might be something important," she argued, even though she had no intention of leaving the bed.

"If it is, I can still wake you up," Becker whispered before closing the door behind him.

He wasn't surprised to find Abby and Connor standing in front of Jess' door.

"Hey," Abby greeted. "I hope I'm not interrupting anything again."

"You're not," Becker assured her. "Jess is still asleep."

"Long night, huh?" Connor asked.

Becker just glared at him.

Connor cleared his throat. "And none of my business."

"We're just here to pick up some stuff," Abby said to change the topic.

"You're already moving out?" Becker asked with surprise. Jess had started looking for an apartment for Connor and Abby just yesterday. He wasn't even sure she had found anything yet.

"The apartment Jess found for us is just perfect," Abby told him. "I still can't believe she found it at all – let alone so quickly. She truly is amazing."

Becker just smiled at that. They so had no idea…

"Do you need a hand?" he offered instead of saying out loud what he'd just thought.

"Sure, thanks," Connor agreed. "We don't have much yet, but we still needed to rent a removal van."

"Yeah, it's amazing how much you can put in the guestroom, isn't it," Jess said as she walked into the living room. "Let me give you a hand as well."

Abby glanced at Becker before saying, "You know, you can go back to bed. We'll be fine."

"I'm not that tired," Jess put her off. "Besides I'm probably going to need your help when I'm moving out, too."

Connor raised an eyebrow at her. "Did we miss anything?"

"We're planning on moving in together," Becker told them. "Some place else."

Connor's jaw hit the floor, while Abby just grinned. "It's about time," she commented.

Becker frowned. It wasn't like they'd been dating for years…

Looking at Abby, he realized she wasn't talking about him and Jess moving in together. She was talking about him standing by his feelings.

Jess expected Becker to get into Abby's face for the comment, and was surprised when he just smirked. She couldn't believe how much he seemed to have changed over the past few weeks – and it made her heart beat faster to think that he'd mostly changed for her.

"Does that mean we already hear the wedding bells ring?" Connor teased.

"None of your business, remember?" Becker replied with a grumble.

Jess grinned. Maybe he hadn't changed that much after all.


	20. Truth

**Title: **Truth

**Fandom:** Primeval

**Pairing:** Becker/Jess

**Rating:** T

**Disclaimer:** Neither the show nor the characters belong to me, they belong to ITV1. Nonetheless, I love to borrow them from time to time. The idea of the story as well as the story itself – including all possible pre- or sequels published afterwards – are mine.

**Summary:** This was a dream, it had to be. This wasn't supposed to happen, not here, not to her, not like this. Yet, here she was, trapped in the Early Jurassic, surrounded by dinosaurs considering her as nothing but food.

**Warnings:** once again not beta-read

**AN: **_Well, it still is 2014. So, I at least managed one other update this year. It's still kinda hard to kick myself every day into doing something other than lay on the couch and watch TV. But I'm getting better, I guess. I really don't want to end up developing a real depression. It just sucks being asked how you are and burst into tears almost every time – or simply yell at people for no apparent reason. And I really don't like having all my co-workers worried there might be something wrong with me. It's nice that they notice, but it also sucks that they do, you know?_

_Anyway, I don't want to babble about the current mood I'm in. I'd much rather let you enjoy the final chapter of this little piece. Since it looks like we don't get to see a sixth season, maybe I can come up with something suitable in the not too distant future. My mind is working on it. ;) Now enjoy! And Merry Christmas!_

_Hugs,_

_Caro_

"Are you still sure?" Becker asked with a smile as he watched Jess examine the living room.

"Yes," Jess replied with a contented sigh. "It's perfect."

Grinning, he walked over to her and wrapped his arms around her. "Good," he whispered, before capturing her lips with his.

Jess melted into his arms, wrapping hers around his neck. "Wow," she whispered, when they had to break the kiss for air.

"Save that for after you tried the lasagne I made," he said with a grin.

Jess raised her eyebrows. "You cooked?"

Becker grimaced at her. "What? You still think I can't?"

"Nope, I realized that you are a man with a lot of secrets," she replied coquettishly. "I was just wondering to what I owe the favour."

"This is the first night in our new home," he told her. "I just wanted to make it perfect."

"You're here," she said, grinning. "So it already _is_ perfect."

He just grinned back at her. "Wait till I took you to the bedroom."

She purred as she sashayed closer to him. "Sounds promising."

"But still, that's for later," Becker told her. "First we're gonna eat."

Pouting, Jess asked, "Why can't we eat later?"

Becker chuckled. "That is another surprise." He glanced at his watch and just at this moment, the doorbell rang. "Right on time," he commented, before opening.

Jess was surprised to see a grinning Abby and Connor standing in front of the door, handing Becker a bottle of wine.

Just as Becker was about to close the door, he saw Matt and Emily coming up the driveway. "Don't tell me you didn't find a parking spot," Becker teased as he let them in.

"We just didn't find our way out here," Matt shot back. "I mean, really, I never pictured you to be the rural kind of guy."

Becker just shrugged. "Jess likes the place, so I like it."

"I like it, too," Emily commented, before Matt could say anything in return.

Becker grinned.

"Not that I'm not glad to see you." Jess greeted her friends as they entered their living room. "But what are you all doing here?"

"Becker invited us over for a little house-warming," Connor explained.

"Just because I knew you'd be curious and come over anyway," he commented with a smirk. "Now come on, dinner's getting cold."

"Don't tell me you cooked," Matt mumbled, grimacing.

Abby just grinned. "Look who's becoming betty of the year."

"Hey, if you'd rather leave before dinner, just say so, I'll show you the door," Becker said with a grumble.

"And miss your famous cooking skills you bragged about, no way," Abby told him with a chuckle.

Becker just rolled his eyes. He had known inviting them over had been a bad idea since they wouldn't stop teasing him about his "new life as a future husband" – as Abby put it. But he had also known how happy it would make Jess to have them all here and celebrate their first night in their new home. And hell, yeah, he would do anything for her.

"I love you," Jess whispered as if she'd just read his thoughts.

Looking down at her smiling face, he knew it was worth it. No matter how much Matt was going to tease him today, he just wouldn't listen. Jess was happy and so was he – nothing else was important.

Smiling himself, Becker lent down to reward Jess' statement with a soft kiss.

"Hey, turtle doves," Matt called out, interrupting them. "If you keep making out like that, we're never gonna make it to the main cause."

"Jealous?" Jess asked, wrapping one arm around Becker's hip as he wrapped an arm around her shoulder.

Matt grimaced once more. "I wouldn't know of what."

Connor and Abby just grinned at each other.

After Jess' comment, Matt backed off a little, biting back any comments about Jess and Becker being obviously happy. On the contrary, he even admitted that he liked what Jess had made of the yard.

Becker had to admit that the evening turned out to be a whole lot of fun.

That was until Abby suggested a game of "Truth or Dare". That was it. The evening was ruined – and he was screwed.

"Okay, who's first?" Abby asked.

"Seriously?" Becker growled.

Matt grinned at him. "Come on, that could be fun."

"Oh, really," Becker grumbled. "I honestly don't want to know what you'll come up with for dare."

"I'd say since Connor suggested this game, he should go first," Jess announced, grinning at him. "So, Connor, truth or dare?"

"Truth," he replied with a grin.

"Okay, then," Jess said, giving him a devious grin, "what was the most embarrassing moment in your relationship with Abby?"

He cleared his throat, shifting uncomfortably in his seat. "Well, um…it was certainly the moment I first told her that I loved her – or, well, the moment after that, actually. I…I mean, I had no idea if the feeling was mutual and it was one of this 'let me die'-'oh, no, I can't because I love you'-moments… Anyway, after that I simply didn't know how to…you know, treat her and that was kinda awkward."

"I think it was cute," Abby assured him. "Even though it made me wonder if you had really been serious that day."

"Well, you don't have to wonder about that anymore I guess," Matt said, winking at both of them.

"Okay, my turn," Connor announced. "I'll ask…Matt, truth or dare?"

"Dare," he said.

"How surprising," Emily mumbled, receiving a death glare from Matt.

"Okay, then, dare it is," Connor said, grinning from ear to ear. "I dare you to…kiss Emily."

Emily and Abby choked on their drinks. Jess giggled.

"What?" Matt asked, crossing his hands in front of his chest. "You think I won't do it?" He snorted, rose from his chair, walked over to Emily, pulled her to her feet and kissed her, drawing first a sound of surprise then one of pleasure from her lips.

Connor's jaw dropped.

"Well, it was about time you two finally admitted being an item," Jess said with a giggle.

"Okay, giggly girl, I pick you. Truth or dare?" Matt asked.

"Dare," Jess replied, much to Matt's surprise.

"Okay," he grinned. "I dare you to…dismantle my weapon." He took the small revolver he kept holstered at his ankle and handed it to her.

Jess raised an eyebrow at him and then, in no time at all, dismantled the small handgun, leaving Matt stunned.

"She learns quickly," Becker told him with a shrug.

"That much is obvious," Matt mumbled, watching Jess putting the pieces of his revolver back together.

"Okay, I'll pick Abby," Jess announced with a grin. "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," she said.

Jess frowned. "Well, I…I dare you to…" Grinning, she handed her friend her phone. "Hack my phone."

"Seriously?" Abby raised her eyebrow at Jess, but took the phone nonetheless. "You know, you're not the only one who learned from her boyfriend," she said, handing the phone back to Jess. "Nice picture."

Jess flushed seeing her background picture showing herself and Becker kissing.

"All right, Emily," Abby said with a smile. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," she replied.

"Do you sometimes wish to be back in your time?"

Looking at Matt, she smiled. "Never."

"Aw," Abby sighed. "That's sweet."

"Shut up," Matt told her. "It's your turn, Emily."

"Well, you're the only one who's left," she told Becker. "Truth or dare?"

"Truth," he said, fearing his dare would be to hack into the ARC's computer system or something. He sure as hell wasn't able to do that.

"All right," she thought about it for a moment, before asking. "Well, we know that you met Jess' parents. I wonder if she met yours, too."

Much to everyone's surprise, Becker jumped up from his seat and stormed out of the room mumbling something about this game being stupid.

"What's wrong?" Emily asked, perplexed, wondering how such a simple question could drive Becker up the wall.

"I don't know," Jess replied, and she really didn't. "Excuse me."

"I'm sorry," Becker told her when she joined him in their bedroom. "I…didn't want to spoil the evening. It's just…I…"

"It's okay," she whispered, wrapping her arms around his middle. She knew him well enough not to ask what was going on. He would tell her when he was ready. "Come back to the living room with me, please."

He sighed, but didn't refuse right away.

"Don't worry, I'll take care of the situation," she assured him.

Unwillingly, Becker followed her back into the living room where everyone looked at him. But much to Becker's surprise, none of them looked angry. They all looked rather worried.

"Okay, what about a game of UNO?" Connor suggested.

"Sounds like fun," Becker said with a smile, sitting back down on the couch next to Jess.

"Oh, yeah, that's my favourite game," Jess announced, grinning, as she got the cards out of one of the drawers.

"That's probably because you always win, right?" Abby teased.

"Well, most of the time," Jess replied with a smirk.

Becker sighed with relief. He was sure none of them could understand his reaction. But none of them was mad at him and none of them asked about it. They all respected that Emily's question had hit a nerve and that he didn't want to talk about it.

They deserved better.

After Jess had beaten them twice, the others gave up on challenging her again and decided that it was time to while away the evening with the bottle of wine Abby and Connor had brought along.

All of them noticed that Becker had fallen silent again, wrongly assuming that he might want them to leave.

"You know why I joined the army?" Becker asked all of a sudden, leaving his friends stunned. They had to admit they didn't. And they couldn't. He'd never told them.

"My grandfather was a soldier, and pretty proud of it," he explained. "My dad was a pacifist, though. He didn't believe in guns. One night when I was five our home was mugged by some guy who probably wanted money for drugs. He was unarmed, at least that's what the police assumed later.

"I heard my dad argue with the guy and the tone of his voice told me that something was wrong. I was scared, so I hid under my bed.

"The police later assumed that my father tried to talk the guy out of mugging us. But he was in no shape to argue with. When my parents refused to give him what he wanted, he took a knife from our kitchen.

"I heard my mom scream and then there was silence. When I finally dared coming out of my hiding place, the police had already arrived. Some neighbours had called them when they heard my mother scream, but it was too late for my parents. They both died that night."

This was followed by a long silence. None of them dared saying anything. None of them really knew what to say, anyway.

"My grandfather took me in. Like I said he'd been a soldier his whole life long and he had a pretty big collection of guns at his place. Whenever I looked at them I couldn't help thinking that…if my parents had had a single gun in our home, maybe they'd both still be alive. So I decided that I wanted to be able to protect myself and my family. That's why I'm so fond of guns, you know. I'm still sure they could have saved my parents' lives."

"My dad had a gun," Connor said. "When he was mugged on the street, he tried to use it. But the guy was stronger, got a hold of the weapon and shot my dad."

Becker blinked at him.

"I'm just saying," Connor explained. "There's no way of knowing that a gun could have saved your parents' lives – not if the attacker was desperate enough, anyway."

"Yeah, you're probably right about that," Jess whispered. "Yet, I feel a lot safer when Becker and his gun are around."

"I'm sorry," Becker said. "For…reacting the way I did earlier. It's just that…being asked about my family is kind of a soft spot."

He turned to Jess, adding, "I'm sorry I can't introduce you to my parents. They would have loved you."

"I would have loved to meet them," Jess whispered. One day she would convince him to put a picture of them next to the picture of her parents.

Matt decided that this was the moment to leave Becker and Jess alone, so he bowed out, ushering the others out of the house as well.

"Thank you," Jess whispered when they were alone, "for sharing this."

"You all were so understanding, I just…thought you deserved better than me shutting you out again," he replied.

"You know, you don't have to…talk about things you don't want to talk about," Jess told him. "Well, not for me, I mean. I love you the way you are and I…don't want you to change for me, you know."

He took her hand in his, gently stroking the back of it with his thumb. "Things have changed," he replied. "Our relationship has changed and…I believe you shouldn't shut out the person you love."

Jess smiled at him. "You are amazing, you know that?"

"I was just thinking the same thing about you", Becker replied. "After my parents died, I thought…it was best not to let anyone get close to me again because eventually I might lose them again. So I built up this wall around me making sure no one could get past it.

"I don't know how or when it happened but at some point, you managed to get behind that wall anyway and…I'm glad you did. For the first time since the day my parents died I feel…happy and at home again."

For the first time in her life, Jess really didn't know what to say. So she just leaned forward and kissed him.

"That was why I was…thinking…" he continued. "I…thought that…" He stopped and cleared his throat. Finally, he raised his eyes to look at her again. "Jessica Parker, will you marry me?"

Jess stood there open-mouthed for a second, letting his words sink in. He wanted her to marry him? This had to be a dream.

"Jess?" Becker whispered a bit insecurely when she didn't reply.

She blinked, and then grinned from ear to ear. "Most definitely, yes."

Grinning himself now, Becker reached in his pocket, took her hand in his and placed a small diamond ring on her finger. Yes, he was happy, perfectly happy. And for a moment, he was wondering why it had to take a dinosaur pulling Jess through an anomaly for him to finally get here.

"What is it?" Jess asked when she noticed he seemed to be a million miles away.

"It's nothing", he replied. "I was just wondering how my worst nightmare could turn into something this wonderful."

Jess grimaced. "Well, I honestly could have done without the two weeks in the Early Jurassic."

Becker took both her hands in his. "I promise I'll make sure you'll never have to go through something like this again."

"Well, it finally made you reveal your feelings for me", she said, grinning as she wrapped both arms around his middle. "So I guess it wasn't that bad after all."

Chuckling, Becker mumbled, "Your sanguine nature is one of the things I love most about you, you know that?"

**THE END**


End file.
